I basically live in Word, both at work and at home, and have done so since elementary school (well, word processors, at least) -- as a result, I probably know how to use Word better (or I should say, more powerfully) than 98% of users, if not more. That means I do know all the obscure features and formatting, how to fix and manipulate them, and most importantly, I have a good sense of when something's possible within Word and when it's not. I've also grown up with Word as an integral part of my writing process, and it's influenced how I compose documents and communicate in general, so I'm totally at home within it.

I'll admit most people aren't like this -- yet. I had a good teacher (my dad, not my school), and I grew up with the software, rather than having to learn it after my thinking and writing processes were already formed. But going forward, more and more people will be like me. There is a lot of room for improvement in Word, yes -- it could be more transparent, more flexible, with more overt features -- but several of the things he was complaining about have never been a problem for me, and I could probably figure out solutions to them in a few minutes. (For example, why was he creating section breaks to reorder a novel? Section breaks are more for style/formatting than for content. Why not go for the easy solution and just copy and paste, either within the current doc or putting it together in a new one? It may not be as flashy but it would get the job done easily.)

If he has to use Word as much as he says he does, and he's not suggesting any alternatives, it might be worth it to learn the program better.