I should have been clear: I don't think people's behaviour is remarkable here (I've done the same, with LaTeX years ago, and with many other tools); what I found remarkable is the history / state of affairs, where a finicky tool primarily concerned with the finer points of typesetting (TeX) became the standard tool for dashing off papers (thanks to Lamport and LaTeX I guess) even for people not concerned so much with typesetting. It's as if, say, a samurai sword had become the standard tool for chopping vegetables in the kitchen, and everyone was complaining about the awkward shape, the unnecessary sheath, etc. It's neither the tool's fault nor the users', but… something has gone wrong somewhere.