Tired of paying an arm, a leg, and a kidney to be able to type someone a letter, create a budget, or make a presentation? I know I am, but for the longest time, Microsoft has had a corner on this market and they have chosen to consumers to look for alternatives or install illegal version of the software on their computer (which I refuse to do, being a novice programmer).
A few weeks ago, IBM announced a free version of Lotus Symphony. It is still in beta, so I wouldn’t recommend using it exclusively, but once it is out of beta, it would be well worth a look at.
Of course, the other popular alternative, which I currently use at my home is OpenOffice.org, and while it is decent, it is lacking with mail merge and a few other features.
Both of the programs support Microsoft Office file formats, which is great for compatibility with the rest of the world.
One other alternative, worth mentioning is Google’s Docs which allows you to use a word processor, spreadsheet and even a presentation program. It is a great service that allows you access documents from any location.