OpenOffice Suite

Do you need word processor but didn't want to pay $100 plus for Microsoft Office suite than OpenOffice is your answer. But you say, your other computer has MS Office and want the flexibility to read your word document and you shall have that flexibility. OpenOffice can read MS Office suite files (Word, Powerpoint, and Excel) but not 100% sure if OpenOffice can save in MS Office format. I read in a forum that if the SAVE AS drop down does not have a choice than manually type in the extension .doc, xle, and ppt. For example free.doc, free.xls, and free.ppt.

For detail review of OpenOffice check out http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=420358

I never used OpenOffice but talked with few people who are currently using it and are happy with it. In my opinion, if you are going to use it for home and school, it should be fine but to use for work might create some problem as almost everybody is using MS Office and as you make more and more configuration change for your files might create some import/export problem from MS Office.

So, next time when your kid tell you they need MS Office to do their school work or you needing a word processor for home use, think about OpenOffice, which is free and gets the job done. I know, it maybe hard to break away from MS Office but sometime it might be well worth it. I'll probably load OpenOffice for my son's computer when I have saved enough money to buy him a computer. Life is tough with our bad economy so, we need to save whereever we can and this might be a good place to start.