Hacking LaTeX Philosophy
Ah…LaTeX documents are usually a thing of beauty. After getting strange results in a standard word processor (i.e. Word), I realised hacking LaTeX to fit a document inside a page limit is like wrestling with your conscience – how far are you willing to compromise yourself to get the job done?
Then again, that’s probably giving LaTeX a bit more credit than it really deserves — sometimes, the program really acts like a headstrong eccentric fashion designer. “Placement Hints” usually equates to “Completely Ignored” — success in that area is probably more due to accidental coinciding philosophy rather than any particular flexibility on LaTeX’s part.
And OpenOffice? Memories of the gargantuan mecha-godzilla beast, crushing processor and memory limits alike, usually get me to steer clear.