Computer-Based Grading: Good or Bad?

I remember a professor who graded papers using the track changes option on Microsoft word, and who preferred to receive paper submissions by email.  At first, I felt apprehensive about this kind of approach to grading papers, especially because one's privacy isn't secure.  I also wondered if it was going to be thorough enough and if replacing text-based grading with computer-based grading was something the professor used for his benefit.  It was certainly a faster and more efficient method of grading for him.  When I got back my first paper, I was pleasantly surprised.  I opened the word document, and at first glance, the red marks were alarming.  When I paid closer attention to what my professor was doing, I found that, fortunately, my paper wasn't being edited like most of the other papers of gotten back, instead, it was being critiqued.  Most of the red marks were the result of elaborate comments typed out in the margins that branched out at the end, or at a particular point, of almost every paragraph in the paper.  

Currently, and in the past, I've received papers that have been edited from beginning to end, followed by an exposition of how satisfied or dissatisfied the professor was after the last paragraph.  Sometimes the writing is not legible and other times I find coffee stains and residue of food on it.  Though this has been the traditional approach to grading, I think a change would be good, even if it feels drastic.  If students want to discuss the grade, a professor doesn't have the luxury to be tutor in a writing center, and doesn't have the luxury to go through every paragraph, elaborating its drawbacks or strengths.  Even if the writing is illegible, professors feel annoyed when they are asked to repeat what they wrote.  Computer-based grading, at least the kind I've had experience with as a student, can avoid all that.  The difficulty imposed on a teacher to transition from text-based grading to computer-based grading may be profound, but benefits to students, I believe, far outweighs the difficulties.