Prose-based Word Processing Programs

Can someone recommend a good one to me? I've been using MS Office Word 2007 for three years--it cost so much I can't justify replacing it with whatever version of Word that's current--and I'm getting quite sick of it. I particularly don't like the way it spaces and paginates. I'm sending a printed submission out double-spaced and it looks almost 1.5 spaced at a uniform 24 lines per page, the max in double-space with 1" margins top and bottom and Word's default 11-point courier. Also, I don't need all the office trash--the bulleted lists, grids, graphs, etc...

I'm not interested in Word Perfect; tried that a couple of computers ago and thought it was garbage. I'm open to just about anything else, however, particularly a program that won't totally botch my work when I copy it in from Word.

Cybernaught said:

OpenOffice. It's free, and you can save files as RTF, Doc and Docx.

Click to expand...

Checked out their site. Interesting. I notice the download is free, but there is some kind of one-time membership charge to receive the latest updates or technical support. I don't know how much it is since they don't tell you unless you decide to become a member, and I didn't want to fill out a membership form unless I'm sure I want to join.

Have you needed tech support at all, or has your download performed well without the updates/support? If you've joined, how much is the one-time fee?