It is typical, though not necessarily naive, for a neophyte to use a graphical user interface for essentially textual information. A gui often better suits the purposes of that type of user, e.g., a more intuitive interface with a reduced learning curve (particularly for casual use). Furthermore, Word 2007 provides a more intuitive typesetting capability, which is essentially non-textual information and is implicit in much "word processing" use. Lastly, while many standards exist, Microsoft Word is the de facto standard for word processing if we consider the general population -- while many, often superior, alternatives exist for it -- it is generally the most widely used word processor which helps in collaboration. Certainly, this may depend on the context in which you use it, e.g., certain academics will require submission of publications in LaTeX. Arguably, Word 2007 does not abide by this de facto standard, as backward compatibility is limited, although it exists.
That stated, it may be of note that Word 2007 has adopted a lot of LaTeX syntax. You can often use LaTeX syntax to achieve the same results you are looking for without needing to recompile and the results are more immediately gratifying and verifiable. However, Word 2007 does not use the same syntax as LaTeX for matrices. Rather they use a modified form, as follows:
\matrix(11&12&13&14@21&22&23&24@31&32&33&34@41&42&43&44)
Word 2007 will turn the "\matrix" into what a black square as you type it. This is normal. Word 2007 will turn the remainder of your text into the appropriately sized matrix after any character typed after the ")". Typing the space character will often force Word 2007 to "compile" previous code without actually inserting a space.