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riverotter
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 11, 2007
Age: 35
Posts: 746
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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 Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:28 pm Post subject: Any decent free word processing software? |
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| Okay, I will admit I am stupid when it comes to computers, and just as brainwashed as everyone else in the US that Microsoft Word is the only way to go. But I just can't see spending big $$ on the program...when I already bought it for my other computer, right? There are numerous freeware word processing programs online. Can anyone tell me which ones are decent, won't be some virus, and can attach files to email easily? I would appreciate any help that could be offered- thanks! |
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kip
Phoenix
Joined: Mar 14, 2007
Age: 21
Posts: 687
Location: Las Vegas NV USA
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:37 pm Post subject: |
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Open Office EXCELLENT programme. Even better than microshaft word.
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riverotter
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 11, 2007
Age: 35
Posts: 746
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:14 pm Post subject: |
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Muchas gracias!!! Thanks for your quick response, kip.
One other question I thought of: a friend of mine tried to send an attached Word document, stating that I would likely not be able to open it because he has Windows Vista and I have the regular Windows. Would something like that be an issue with Open Office? |
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pakled
"Bless his Heart"
Joined: Nov 13, 2007
Age: 50
Posts: 2743
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:53 pm Post subject: |
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Star Office...but then, I think that's also called 'open office'...
Heard good things about Crimson editor, which isn't a full-fledged processor like Word, or a bare-bones thing like Wordpad or Notepad, but something in between.
I still can't find my copy of Wordstar... |
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LoveableNerd
Velociraptor
Joined: Apr 24, 2008
Posts: 435
Location: Kentucky, USA
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 11:30 pm Post subject: |
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Open Office will open Microsoft Word documents. It is the only non-MS program that will, to my knowledge. Certainly the only free one.
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Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.---George Bernard Shaw
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patrick6
Phoenix
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Joined: Feb 24, 2008
Posts: 1901
Location: London, U.K.
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 7:05 am Post subject: |
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| Yeah, definitely go with Openoffice (like two other people in this post recommended). It's true that it's even better than Microsoft Office. |
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Izaak
Squeeky Bathtime Companion
Joined: Jun 11, 2007
Posts: 1154
Location: Perth, Western Australia
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:20 am Post subject: |
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I am an Open Office user and my University is not. In Open Office Writer (like Word) I can open and edit MS Word documents and then save them as Word documents. So even the backwards people I know that still pay money for Word are not kept in the dark of my brilliant contributions to the sum of human knowledge.
While I do recommend saving your OWN documents in the default Open Document Format (nicer tables (which I use a lot of) at the very least) the portability is unbelievable. I even managed (with a plugin) to convert some old Lotus Noted documents I had to word documents and then sent them on to Word users. While keeping them as ODF files on my own computer.
It's all very handy. I am a definite advocate of Open Office. |
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patrick6
Phoenix
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Joined: Feb 24, 2008
Posts: 1901
Location: London, U.K.
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:30 pm Post subject: |
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| If you want a Notepad alternative you should try out Notepad++. It's also free and is superior to the default Notepad that comes with Windows. For a Word processing alternative just use Openoffice (like I mentioned before). |
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NeantHumain
Phoenix
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Joined: Jun 25, 2004
Posts: 3596
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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| AbiWord is another one of those open-source word processors. |
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pbcoll
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 15, 2007
Posts: 1730
Location: England
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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As others have said, Open Office is good and it's free, and can open, edit, and save in Word format.
If you're doing anything involving lots of equations, figures, etc you might consider learning latex, which is also free.
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I am the steppenwolf that never learned to dance. (Sedaka) |
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gamefreak
Guns are good but swords are even better
Joined: Dec 31, 2006
Age: 18
Posts: 1146
Location: Spring Hill, Florida
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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| OpenOffice Forever!!! |
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Fogman
Econo-class Iconoclast
Joined: Jun 20, 2005
Age: 41
Posts: 1997
Location: SC, USA
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| Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:27 pm Post subject: |
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Open Office as other people have said is quite usable and free. If you're running Linux, there's also KOffice as well, which usually comes bundled with the K Desktop environment. The last time that I used it regularly (In 2001), it could open MS Word documents, but wouldn't reliably retain MS Word formatting.
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gbollard
the oncoming storm
Joined: Oct 06, 2007
Age: 39
Posts: 3056
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Axendra
Emu Egg
Joined: Jun 03, 2008
Posts: 5
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LostInEmulation
Penguin
Joined: Feb 11, 2008
Posts: 1226
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:09 pm Post subject: |
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Is there also Abiword for Windows? in case you do not have half a GiB of RAM...
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