Just upgraded ME to XP on my second computer (HP Pavalion XT 853; OS, CPU, ram above) and now I need to install a word processing program. I have a MS Works/Word, etc. I can use, but need something with more features (PDF writing and Excel, where I can acutally edit the Excel doc.) so I can bring projects home from work to work on and be able to send the finished projects back to work thru our work internet mail server. I know I can download readers for both those apps. for Works and Word, but the Easy Office and Open Office programs both have the capabilities "built in". I had Easy Office for a while on my Compaq, but no experience with Open Office at all. Is one program better than the other? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

i have always had the full-featured bundled versions of Office.. thus i have no knowledge of Easy or Open Office. BUT.. since you say you'd be only(or mostly) be using the programs for work.. check to see if your works' IT department has agreements with the software distributors. normally licenses are bought for a certain amount of workers.. and the same one license that covers your work pc also may cover your home pc. thus you could probably have your IT department send a cd home with you to install a bundle of your work programs on your home pc... free! *ALOT* of businesses especially do this with their preferred anti-virus application.

Although I have never used Easy Office, I have been using OpenOffice since the pre-1.0 days. I have been using the 1.1 version ever since it came out and it does a nice job of reading/saving word and excel docs. There will be some formatting stuff that doesnt get transferred over, tho. So look out for that. Other than that I have been perfectly happy with OpenOffice.