Ok. LaTeX is a typesetting system. It works as a compiler, i.e. you run it from command line with your document's ASCII "source" as input. The compilation may require multiple stages/passes and it is pretty CPU intensive (i.e. will take ages on your tablet for reasonably complex documents). In fact, you will be better off using makefiles to build your LaTeX document. The TeX/LaTeX language itself is pretty arcane and full of pitfalls, so to master it really well you need to read special books and use it daily for months. All images are loaded from separate files during compilation.

Please note that I know and like LaTeX. When you know what you are doing, LaTeX will produce print-perfect results for you. But replacing MS Word with that?

PS: There are some WYSIWYG frontends to LaTeX (like LyX), but I have not seen any that are perfect and they all require even more resources than the base command line tools.

Lets name one (product )... Sharepoint?

I do, and I'm the only one who counts!

Nah, I just need one MS hater in a high place. For instance, Obama's relationship with Google could foster good things. Maybe some open standards will trickle down. Who's to say? And not to bring Adobe into it, but PDF is just as much a problem for MS as anything. A teacher wouldn't care where it came from.

The writing's on the wall and in the classroom. Ignore it all you want. Anyway, I'll always be able to setup a virtual Windows and Office 2000/XP if need be, but I doubt it'll be necessary. Backwards compatibility should own MS for quite some time, so all is good. But I predict my son will never know MS Windows.