Seriously, People pay $499 for something they can get for free legaly. That is the list price for Microsoft Office Professional.

Don't let anyone tell you that Microsoft Office is required because that is what your work uses or your school uses. It's all hogwash. I was told by my college professor that it was required for class and it was the industry standard. All I could do was laugh. I did the following steps and submitted all of my papers in Microsoft Word format using OpenOffice without paying a penny. The best thing is that the professor never knew the difference.

OpenOffice is 100% compatible with Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc. and will Open and Save in Microsoft Office format. It is the product of many hard working dedicated individuals and companies. Many people will tell you that Microsoft Office is better, I leave it up to you to decide.

I'm only promoting this product because it is great software. Trenton Computers does not make any money from it and neither does anyone else. Please give the developers of this software a chance and try it out. They have worked hard to give you OpenOffice for free and it's much better and more secure than Microsoft Office.

Do the following....

Download OpenOffice.org

http://www.openoffice.org

To make OpenOffice open and save Microsoft Office files by default...

Launch "OpenOffice Writer". This is the same thing as Microsoft Word. It just can't be called the same thing or they will get sued. Heck, I might even get sued for this.

Click on: Tools -> Options -> Load/Save -> General

In the "Default file format" section: Change the following "Document Types" to "Always save as"

Text Document = "Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP"

Spreadsheet = "Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP"

Presentation = "Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP"

Then click "OK"

Remember: (I usually change the names of the icons and nobody knows that they are not using Microsoft Office)

OpenOffice Writer = Microsoft Word

OpenOffice Calc = Microsoft Excel

OpenOffice Impress = Microsoft Powerpoint