Most of us use Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, etc.  However, with netbooks and more computers coming out with Linux and other processors, there are other options.  Actually, my new HP netbook came with a trial version of MS Office, but I deleted it.  I use the free equivalent from Sun Microsystems, at OpenOffice.org.

It’s absolutely free, and always will be they say.  This suite of software will open and save all of your MS Office files so that others can use them as well.  I’ve used it with business writing clients who have not complained about inability to open documents or spreadsheets.  Formatting seems to be good enough to avoid problems as well.

It’s certainly worth a look if you’re considering spending hundreds of dollars for Microsoft products.  Next, I’ll write about “cloud” computing with all of your documents stored online, and without software dependency.