The long anticipated version 2.0 of OpenOffice.org (the $free Microsoft Office "replacement") was released yesterday. OpenOffice.org 2.0 is the equivalent of Microsoft Office Professional: Access, Word, Excel, and Powerpoint plus a drawing program which Office does not have. Additionally, OOo can create Adobe Acrobat files, which Office cannot. Did I mention that OOo costs nothing? Following are salient quotes from the press kit.
OpenOffice.org released the long-awaited version 2.0 of its free office suite for Windows, Mac and Linux on 20 October 2005 adding a new database module, support for the OpenDocument file format, a fresh user interface, and plenty of improvements and bug fixes….
The suite now also offers a database module, Base, to complement the word processor (Writer), spreadsheet manager (Calc), presentation manager (Impress) and drawing tool (Draw) modules. These give all users the tools they need to be productive in the modern world. Free for all, OpenOffice.org offers everyone the enduring freedoms to use, study, improve and share the software. Users can download it for free from the Project’s Web page.
With a new user interface, OpenOffice.org 2.0 is easy to learn and use by the most inexperienced user, and is significantly more compatible with Microsoft Office files than prior versions. Supported by dozens of professional companies, OpenOffice.org 2.0 will be available in more than 60 languages. Able to run on Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, Sun Solaris and other platforms, OpenOffice.org is increasingly the choice of businesses and governments throughout the world, and earlier versions have been downloaded over 49 million times since the project’s inception.
This software is definitely worth a look. I have been using OpenOffice.org exclusively for my business for two years and it works wonderfully. If you have an older version of Microsoft Office and would like to upgrade but don’t have the money, check out OOo. Likewise, if you have just part of Office (perhaps Word but not Excel or Access), OOo may be exactly the solution. You can keep using the parts of Office that you have and enjoy while adding OOo on the side for the other components.
The Cheerful Curmudgeon highly recommends OpenOffice.org 2.0. 
