>Hi
>
>I was about to download staroffice, but then I thought it would be a good idea to ask here first. :)
>
>I used staroffice some time agom in a version that when you opened 2 or 3 documents all you RAM was used! ARGH! :)
>
>But I read that it is much better now. And I read somewhere about 602 software, but i know nothing about it.
>
>Please, I want a free suite similar to MS Office. Any advices or suggestions?
>
>TIA
>
>Alonso

Here in Bolivia, we are also worried about the cost of software. I investigated, mainly, 602 and StarOffice, but there seem to be several other options, as well. Perhaps you can find a Web-site with some decent reviews (you might start at www.download.com).

602 uses MS-Office format natively. But I found it was more limited than StarOffice. Mainly, no Spanish version was available.

StarOffice is supported on several platforms. The newest version is supposed to support automation, but I couldn't get it to work. Versions in many different languages are available. We use it actively on several machines. Users complain (they don't like getting weaned from MS-Office), but it seems to support all major features. The one big missing feature I found is Document Outline. Of course, most users won't use it anyway, but I do (for a hierarchical "to-do" list).

Hilmar.