The use of links is also quite common in large Microsoft Word documents and has been for years. I am finishing a 160 page book with about 80 linked photographs and maps using Word 2003. Linked photos are essential in this case as the file size would otherwise be unworkable. You can insert, link or insert and link the objects and then at a later stage swap etc or otherwise edit their designations. There are numerous advantages to linking and there are few hassles. One interesting one is when you have all your images on a separate drive and forget to turn that on when you edit your main article. Heart attack material for a few seconds when you think you have lost all your photos.