Students can buy a cheap copy of MS Office, though it is not free and there are theoretical usage restrictions.
On the other hand, OpenOffice represents the future and OpenOffice skills will increasingly be in demand. Adopting OpenOffice will give you those skills and the use of a better product during your studies. If you need to move to MS Office in employment, the learning curve is small.
Even the simple task of preparing a CV is easier with OpenOffice Writer
- headers and footers work better
- placing pictures is easier
- if you need to send in Word format, the file is smaller, reducing transmission time
For language students, the case for OpenOffice Writer is particularly strong. Dictionaries [http://lingucomponent.openoffice.org/download_dictionary.html] are available for 48 languages plus some dialects, including all main European languages. Further language aids are available for some languages, including (for v2) thesauruses for English, French, German, Polish and Slovakian.
If you need language aids for more than the three languages supplied with Word (English, French and Spanish included with UK/US Word), the Microsoft Word language pack has dictionaries and thesauruses for 45 languages with rather more dialects than OpenOffice, but at a cost of £100+.
Spelling dictionaries in OpenOffice and MS Office are roughly equivalent, however the OpenOffice Thesaurus is much better.
If you want to send spell-checked emails, or even if you just want something better than Outlook/Outlook Express, install thunderbird [www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/]
for more see
