Personal computers are really good at taking in all kinds of written information: correspondence, forms and ledgers, keeping track of addresses and stuff, not to mention creative writing. But if you want to take advantage of a PC’s talent for formatting and storing your various keystrokes, you gotta buy some software. Or do you now?

The king of office applications is Microsoft Office™, and if you really want to find out the scoop about that suite, go to www.office.microsoft.com There you will learn that you can install the latest “Home and Student” version of the suite, with WORD, EXCEL, PowerPoint, and something called OneNote, on three PC’s for $150. That’s $50 a piece... pretty sweet deal.

On the other hand, if you want Outlook, and Publisher, and Accounting Express (successor to Microsoft Money), then it’s gonna cost you almost 300 bucks for one installation. Why such a big difference? Because Microsoft knows that their “Home and Student” version is competing with OpenOffice, a free software program, which will do most everything Microsoft’s Home and Student version can do (and more if you need a database).

About ten years ago, Sun Microsystems turned their “StarOffice” suite into an open-source freeware project, a kinda co-op for nerds. Google helped; lots of people helped. And, like the little engine that could, OpenOffice became a serious competitor to Microsoft's Office Suite.

There’s lots of tutorials, user forums, and help. You can open and edit documents from other applications (like WORD and EXCEL) with it. Basically, it’s a godsend for any small business or non-profit, where setting up three or four workstations with Microsoft Office Standard will cost about $1000.

But if you think you might want it, don’t delay. April 2009, another of the world’s largest software companies, Oracle, bought Sun Microsystems. Supporters are hoping that Oracle will keep OpenOffice independent and free, but you know, man, you can’t trust a big corporation. Better download the latest version of OpenOffice now at www.download.openoffice.org