>>>>We've never bought or isntalled Office at ARS. We've never "HAD" to buy any proprietary software.
>>>
>>>What do you use instead?
>>
>>One option I find very attractive is StarOffice. The basic version is free. This one uses its own proprietary format, but it can open (and write to) most versions of MS-Office, up to Office 2000.
>
>I tried it a few years ago. I would probably use it but it tries to become your desktop. That turned me off, so I uninstalled and deleted it.
>
Evan,

I fogot about that...it does try to become another desktop; it is bloated and annoying. And doesn't it run in a Java virtual machine? Ouch! I was almost convinced (by Jerry) to give StarOffice a try again on a Linux box; thanks for reminding me about that!