If you are on a tight budget, you can use
OpenOffice or
LibreOffice for free, or the suite of free office-like tools called
Google Docs that you use online.
IBM Lotus Symphony is yet another free suite. OpenOffice and LibreOffice are complete PC office suites that compare to Microsoft Office tools, and are both available in many different Linux distributions, such as Fedora, Linux Mint, openSUSE and Ubuntu.
OpenOffice and/or
LibreOffice both include:
(Note: Also features a PDF converter for most apps)Writer - A word processor similar to Microsoft Word or WordPerfect. Includes webpages creation.
Calc - A spreadsheet program, similar to Microsoft Excel or Lotus 1-2-3.
Impress - A presentation program resembling Microsoft Powerpoint.
Base - A database management program, similar to Microsoft Access.
Draw - A vector graphics tool similar to Microsoft Visio, and CorelDRAW.
Math - A mathematical formulae application similar to versions of MathCAD.
OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice.org originated as StarOffice, an office suite developed by StarDivision and later acquired by Sun Microsystems in August 1999. Oracle then acquired Sun in 2010 and then later contributed the suite to the Apache Incubator to become a project of the Apache Software Foundation. It has 100's of million users around the world.
http://download.openoffice.org/Although LibreOffice is only 1 year old, it is now estimated to have 25 million users worldwide.
http://www.libreoffice.org/download/Google Docs Apps are a free, Web-based office suite, and data storage service, which allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users. There are 5 different components in the suite;
Documents
Spreadsheets
Presentations
Drawings
Forms
http://www.google.com/google-d-s/documents/IBM Lotus Symphony is the office productivity software from IBM that is easy to use and provided at no charge;
http://www-03.ibm.com/software/lotus/symphonyOther Free Miscellaneous Office-like Suites:SSuite Excalibur http://www.ssuitesoft.com/ssuiteexcalibur.htmSOHO Online http://www.zoho.com/
