Hello,

Most of us use LaTeX + BibTeX for writing papers and research reports. Personally, I use MS Word for other document types but not for research papers and reports---even if I mostly use Windows. In case it matters: I use MikTeX v. 2.4 as the main TeX technology platform; TeXnicCenter v. 1 Beta 6.21 or Texmaker v. 1.5 for editing; and JabRef v. 2.2 for the management of the BibTeX database, all on Win2K Pro.

By and large, I am happy with this setup. However, I also find that LaTeX technology itself is a bit dated. It does look a bit arcane. (Just try editing a style file!). Ideally, I wanted software of the following characteristics: