free microsoft word clone

[Marineborn]

hey everyone my wife is doing some schoolwork and microsoft word is too pricey, ive heard about them before but couldnt locate any i was wondering if there are any good clones of it out there. appreciate it

 

[v12dock]

OpenOffice

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

OpenOffice

+1, it just won't read docx files, so careful!

 

[char[] rager]

Open Office is the most popular Microsoft Office alternative. It is completely free.

Another free one is SS Suite. It's claim is that since it is written using the Win32 API, it is going to be faster and smaller than Microsoft Office and Open Office.

 

[95Viper]

Abiword


Edit:
More beefier than Abiword:
Lotus Symphonyhttp://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.nsf/products You might have to register to download.
IBM Lotus Symphony is a Free Alternative to MS Office

 

[Kreij]

+1, it just won't read docx files, so careful!

The format converters for early versions of MS office are iffy at best.
OpenOffice is the only thing I have here at work that will open docx & xlsx files.

 

[Drone]

http://www.documentfoundation.org/download/

LibreOffice. Of course it's worse than ms word but it's free. It has all suite in one and it doesn't eat resources. Just need to get to it, and it'll be fine.

 

[jpierce55]

Open Office is basically what the old "free" Star Office was. I think it is more stable than MS Office, but it is slow in initial loading due to some specific reasons that will become obvious when you use it.

I have never had issues with it NOT reading a MS Word document, and you can convert an Open Office document to an MS Word document.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

The format converters for early versions of MS office are iffy at best.
OpenOffice is the only thing I have here at work that will open docx & xlsx files.

Which version do you have? I know that Novel's version has more up-to-date file converters than just the regular Oo. Speaking of .docx, that is M$'s "open" format.

To the op, students get a discount on M$ software. You might want to investigate that. My wife works in the school district and we can get Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus for $70. Try techhead.org

 

[entropy13]

http://www.documentfoundation.org/download/

LibreOffice. Of course it's worse than ms word but it's free. It has all suite in one and it doesn't eat resources. Just need to get to it, and it'll be fine.

LibreOffice is a rebranded OpenOffice. A dispute with Oracle I think prompted the move.

EDIT: I was right: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/361516/openoffice-group-breaks-away-from-oracle

 

[Kreij]

Which version do you have? I know that Novel's version has more up-to-date file converters than just the regular Oo. Speaking of .docx, that is M$'s "open" format.

I use the latest version (3.2.1) of OpenOffice.
It opens everything fine, and saves it back fine too.

The only compaints I've heard about it's compatibility have to do with the heavy use of macros and/or formulas.