Open Office
Open Office has an extremely good free to use and distribute product at http://www.openoffice.org
It contains programmes fully functional in Word-processing, Database, Spreadsheets, Drawing and Presentation. It looks and feels like Microsoft Office and can even make PDF's
OpenOffice.org is more than a collection of five superb tools.
Unlike some competitors, this suite was not created from a collection of separate pieces of software. From the start, it was designed as one complete office package.
All the packages have a similar 'look and feel' making them very easy to use, with common 'learn once use everywhere' tools like the Styles and Formatting. OpenOffice.org takes its 'look and feel' from your computer - if you change your desktop, OpenOffice.org will change to match.
The same tools are used consistently across the suite - for example, the tools you use to work with graphics within Writer are also found in Impress and Draw.
You don't need to know which application was used to create a particular file - you can 'File Open' any OpenOffice.org file from anywhere and the correct application will be launched.
All the packages share a common spell-checker, etc.; and if you change an 'Option' in one package, it's changed in them all.
Information can be transferred easily between all the packages.
All the components save in OpenDocument format, the new international standard for office documents. This XML based format offers substantial disk savings compared to common competitors' formats. It also means you can access your data from any OpenDocument compliant software.
All the packages are installed in one single operation, using the installation process you are used to on your computer.
All the packages are released under the same open licensing model - there are no hidden charges now or in the future.
Everything you need in an office productivity suite