Rating: 
Summary: Why not compatibility?
Review: Why not OpenOffice? A community of programmers working to make the programs better. The compatibility is great. Currently, they do not have WordPerfect compatibility. However, that will be coming soon.
Also, there is currently no solver. If you need the compatibility with WordPerfect, you may want to go for the commercial version (?), Staroffice 7.0. for $79.
I can't recommend either too highly. The latest version is 1.1. I use it on Linux, Windows XP, and soon, the Mac. I use Staroffice on Linux, FreeBSD, and Windows XP. I find no significant difference except for some filters, such as for WordPerfect, in Staroffice. In both, I can open Word 6.0/Word 7.0 (95) files. Try that with Word 2003.
There is a mailing list where you can post questions. Just try it. Free is not the only reason to get OpenOffice.
If you buy one of the excellent books, OpenOffice 1.0.Org or OOSwitch, or Taming OpenOffice. All three of the authors have other information available online, and participate in the mailing lists.
Rating: 
Summary: OpenOffice.org
Review: www.openoffice.orgIt reads and writes Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and it is free. It does what most poeple need. Give it a try.
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