Microsoft Office is pretty much the norm in computer world. Microsoft has a monopoly. Until now. OpenOffice.org is a free alternative to Microsoft Office. OpenOffice is made up of 6 basic programs :

Writer - a word processor comparable to Word
Calc - a spreadsheet editor and creator comparable to Excel
Draw - a graphics editor similar to Publisher
Impress - a presentation program rival to PowerPoint
Base - database program comparable to Access

Already have an older version or Microsoft Office or at least have some files others have created in MS Office? The great thing about OpenOffice is that is can easily integrate MS Office's information into OpenOffice, meaning you can open MS Office docs in Open Office. If you are looking at purchasing MS Office, give OpenOffice.org a try? What do you have to lose? It's free!