New to this release of Office is a Subscription mode, which can be chosen during initial install. Subscription mode allows the user to register the product over the Internet and renew or extend the amount of time the software will work at regular intervals. A standard mode allows Office 10 to be installed as usual, but failing to register the product after 20 executions will cause the application to go into "reduced functionality mode," where the user can view documents but not edit or create documents. When Office 10 ships, it's likely that the product will offer only one of the two options, depending on the version purchased, or that the product key you receive will determine which type of installation mode will work.

OpenOffice 2.2 is the open source version of the StarOffice package sold by Sun Microsystems, it's a comprehensive office suite package consisting of:
Writer, Word processor.
Calc, Spreadsheet.
Base, Database.
Impress, Presentation program.
Math, Mathematical function creator.
Draw, Vector drawing tool.
It will open Microsoft Word and Excel documents very well and there is even the option to set the Save formats to the Microsoft equivalents instead of the OpenOffice defaults to enhance compatibility. Base is a very powerful database, if somewhat harder to use than Access, compatibility between these two is not so satisfactory.
Users of Microsoft Office will find that this takes a little getting used to, as while similar in many ways, the two packages don't always work in precisely the same manner to achieve the same objective. This may give people who are set in their ways some grief, but remember that the latest version of Office has a new interface and getting to grips with that if you upgrade will also involve a learning curve to climb. It will however leave you with a whacking great hole in the bank balance, something OpenOffice will leave untouched.
The only flaw I can find with OpenOffice is the lack of a grammar checker, the spellcheck is fine, but there are occasions where a bit more assistance would be nice. Other than this OpenOffice does everything a home user could require and will be equally suitable for most business users.
There are also a variety of older versions available for download if you have an older less powerful PC along with variants for a variety of alternative operating systems including Linux and Apple.
Try it, you may like it and when the time comes look at the price tag and decide is brand loyalty worth quite that much cash?

Don't waste your money buying Microsoft when you can get this programme completely free

Open Office has word processing (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation (Impress), Drawing (Draw) and Database (Base) software all in a single package. It is available as a free download from www.openoffice.org. Because it is quite a large download there are also sources of the suite on CD for a minimal service charge.

The software is designed to be like MS Office, and its files are generally compatible with the equivalent MS applications. There are aspects that you may lose in the translation such as some of the formatting; if I use OpenOffice at home I try to keep it simple if I am going to open the files at work. Like many people, I have Word installed at home because that came with my computers, but I also use PowerPoint at work and don't have it at home. I use the OpenOffice Impress presentation software instead. OpenOffice does other things as well, but I have never had use for spreadsheets or databases, so I am not sure about them.

If you like and make a lot of use of the OpenOffice software you are asked - and I think we all have a moral duty here - to make a contribution towards development costs.

If you want a legal office suite without paying megabucks, this is a serious contender. Yes, it is a little slow to open, and the compatibility is not 100%, but I also find Word has its little glitches, and the same is probably true of the other applications from the big guys as well.

Give OpenOffice a go! It is amazing for something that only costs the download time, and it is completely legal. Using it gives nothing to the criminals who deal in dodgy software.