Open Office, a free alternative to Microsoft Office, is now at version 3.0. I’ve been using Open Office for quite some time now and like it. While it is not as polished as Microsoft Office, it is free and competes well on a feature by feature basis. I suspect that it is helped motivate Microsoft to continue to offer the special pricing for the Student/Home version of Office.
Office will still enjoy its domination of the market, but Open Office is whittling away and has carved out a niche for itself. Give it a try. You’ll like it.
Open Source Software is existing now, and it helps a lot. There’s also a counterpart for MS Office and this is for free. You can visit http://www.openoffice.org. It’s really good to hear that there are lot of open software for free that exist.
Are you fighting the good fight with “open source” software now? Resistance is FUTILE! You must assimilate. Software councilors will be knocking on your door soon.