MS word Starter ?

[THingleton]

I was given a new laptop for XMAS and it came with MS Word Starter. It is not the full version of word and I was wondering if I can use it for my novel writing instead of purchasing the full version or am I better off using something else?
I would really like some free options and was looking at Open Office but it looks like it is kind of complicated and would be hard to learn...
Thanks for the help

[Summonere]

AbiWord (http://www.abisource.com/) is simple and lets you save files in .doc and .pdf and .rtf and many other formats.

OpenOffice is good and useful, but it completely sucks at .rtf compatibility (haven't tested AbiWord yet with .rtf).

Koffice (http://www.koffice.org/) has Kword, but I've not used that one at all so someone else will have to chime in on its usability.

[kurzon]

If you just want basic word-processing, just use WordPad, which comes free with Windows.

[RJK]

If you plan to write anything other than hobby stuff, you need a full powered word processor and you need to take a few hours to learn the fundamentals of formatting and styles. Wordpad and MS Works come free with Windows, but these programs start to fall apart as your file size grows. They don't do well formatting large documents, so if you plan to write a novel, forget these two programs.

Open Office may be the way for you to go to begin with. You have a long journey ahead of you before you're ready to submit anything to an agent or publisher. When you are ready to become a professional writer, you will probably decide that the full version of MS Word is your best choice. Actually purchasing MS Office isn't that big a nut to crunch, and you get Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, and Word, as well as other applications you may find you want to use.