Recommended Word Processor

Whichever you want Dwayne. It depends on what you need.

Microsoft (Office) Word is all you need unless you're writing plays or screenplays.

Being el cheapo, I use Open Office because it's free and robust.

I use Word & Open Office - they both do just fine.

I use OpenOffice.org and WordPad. OpenOffice is a free downloadable thing and is very well-featured; and WordPad comes with most Windows operating systems.

Like others have pointed out, though, what really matters is if it gets the job done. Sounds to me like what you have will do fine, depending on what you're writing.

I use Microsoft word 2003.

I tried updated versions and hated them for various reasons.

I tried Open Office after my HD crashed and I temporarily lost my CD key for Word. It was all right, but it didn't feel at home like Word did. After four years and over one million words written, Word sorta grew on me.

I will be using Microsoft word 2003 for the rest of my writing career, more than likely.

You might want to check with your employer and see if they have any kind of home use program that you can take advantage of. Basically, they might have a deal with the software company for employees to get the software at discounted rates or for free, depending on the deal. At one of my previous companies, I could purchase hardware through them at a discounted rate; through another one, I got a full version of Office 2007 for the cost of postage. Everyone I've been with has also offered virus software for free.

I use Open Office, it does everything I need it to, and it's free

I'm an MS word user. It's easy and all I really need at the moment.

I used to use Open Office, but it was glitchy on the save, so I ditched it and went back to Word. YMMV. When it worked, it was awesome.

Tried OpenOffice, hated it. Now I use either MS Word 2007 on my laptop, or my AlphaSmart Neo.

Or sometimes...pen and paper.

What is this "pen and paper" of which you speak? What's the format? Can I use it on my Linux machine?

You can see some if you visit your local museum. It's very low-tech, so be warned.

BenPanced said:

What is this "pen and paper" of which you speak? What's the format? Can I use it on my Linux machine?

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scarletpeaches said:

You can see some if you visit your local museum. It's very low-tech, so be warned.

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Or you can see some at your local grocery store, drug store, or just about any other store you can think of. It's a poor-man's writing kit, dontcha know.

Linda Adams said:

You might want to check with your employer and see if they have any kind of home use program that you can take advantage of. Basically, they might have a deal with the software company for employees to get the software at discounted rates or for free, depending on the deal.

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My company just started offering that deal. I've got Office Enterprise 2007 winging its way to me now. I hate, hate, hate Word, but I do like Access and Excel, so to get those three programs plus OneNote, PowerPoint, Publisher and three communication/collaboration programs all for twenty bucks is a deal I can't pass up.

Personally, I write in WordPerfect. I use Word only at work and only under protest.

Scribhneoir said:

My company just started offering that deal. I've got Office Enterprise 2007 winging its way to me now. I hate, hate, hate Word, but I do like Access and Excel, so to get those three programs plus OneNote, PowerPoint, Publisher and three communication/collaboration programs all for twenty bucks is a deal I can't pass up.

Personally, I write in WordPerfect. I use Word only at work and only under protest.

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You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. ;-)

I use Word2k3 mainly, but laptop has 2k7, which is kind of fun. I know a lot of people don't like Word2k7. It has some great features, but that first learning curve is a hairpin. With a tight s-bend shortly thereafter.

I use Scrivener for getting the story down and organizing, then I finish it off with Open Office. You'd have to pry either from my cold dead hands.

I've used Word, AbiWord, Open Office, yWriter, and just about anything else I can get my hands on. The tool doesn't matter, it's how well you use it.

I've used a few different programs and finally settled on NeoOffice for my Macbook. It gets a bit glitchy sometimes, but I can usually fix that by just closing and reopening the document. The really good thing about Open- and NeoOffice is that you can use them to create .doc files that can be opened by people using Microsoft Word. (Or by professors who insist that all files must be in .doc format.)

Does anyone else find that sometimes open offices spell checker isn't correct? It told me cheerleader and oversized were misspelled, but on Merriam-Webster is said both were correct... would you all just go with Merriam-Webster and add it to the dictionary?

I used to use OpenOffice because I couldn't get a copy of Office for financial reasons. I just got a copy of Office 2007 off of my dad and love using Word 2007 again. Like someone else said, I just feel at home.

Though this Scrivener program (Macs only) looks good. If I ever got a Mac, I might get that.

Clair Dickson said:

You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. ;-)

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That's Microsoft's hope anyway. Give all those workers nearly free software for personal use and they'll never escape the MS web. Bwahaha!

bsolah said:

I just got a copy of Office 2007 off of my dad and love using Word 2007 again. Like someone else said, I just feel at home.

Though this Scrivener program (Macs only) looks good. If I ever got a Mac, I might get that.

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The only thing that every felt like home to me about Word was when they had Links the Cat as a "help agent." They got rid of the agents a release or two ago, so OpenOffice is fine for me now and I have to make due with my live cats.