Free Word Processor?

[sdelmonte]

I am looking to avoid having to buy MS Office for the new computer. Can anyone recommend good word processing software? OR, for that matter, a good free spreadsheet program?

Thanks.

Comments

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I hear good things about Open Office. Also, you could do all your work in Google Docs.

[fleetfootmike.livejournal.com]

What they said, to both :)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Open Office for the win.

[poltr1]

Another vote for OpenOffice. I use it on my laptop. They just rolled out version 3.0 last month. It includes a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a presentation maker. The download is around 120 Mb -- hope you got a high-speed connection.

[buongiornodaisy.livejournal.com]

Throwing my hat in for Open Office!

[hms42]

I use open office and I have used google docs to share documents (Contata set lists and schedules being the main documents there.)

Open office can open just about anything and save to just about any format.

[camwyn]

I use Open Office myself. The controls aren't that different from MS Office, it's free, and no !*&()&*()! paperclip lying in wait for when you hit F1.

[crazedcrusader.livejournal.com]

Open Office is definitely my pick. I use it in place of Microsoft Office and I haven't missed MSO yet at all.

[mm_madb]

Another in the Open Office pool. It's got the spreadsheet software as well.

[the_croupier]

Open Office here too. Though, if you happen to have a Mac, I like Neooffice even better (it's built on Open Office but integrates with OS X better).

The only issue I've had Word-wise with the open-source apps is that they don't always handle special features well. For example, if you use commenting or version tracking, that can make the open-source apps hiccup a little (or they ignore them entirely). Then again, maybe that's due to a setting I need to change, and haven't.

In any case, those features don't come up often. Chances are the things you'll be looking for will be handled perfectly well by Open Office.