Five free alternatives to Micorsoft Word

Without a doubt Microsoft word is the best word processor money can buy but not all of us cannot afford it, also most of the people who buy Microsoft word never use all the features it offers. Hence Here is a list of best free word processors available in market for download.

1. Abiword: Without a doubt one of the best freeware word processor available. Abiword can read and edit almost all the coomon documet formats like MS word documents, open office documents, rtf files, txt files etc. Also Abiword is multiplatform it can run on windows, linux, solaris etc giving user the flexibility to run on any operating system. Another major plus point about Abiword is its ligh weight and quick startup , it almost starts in an instant so you are not pestered by annoying splash images at start and can jump into work right away. Give it a try and it will be liked for sure.

2. OpenOffice.org Writer: Probably the best MS word alternative known to most people. It has almost all the features that MS word can offer and a common man can use. Very simple to use and an elegant interface are an added advantage. Only disadvantage i can think of is that it is slightly slow to start with that annoying splash, which will bog down a few potential users. But for users looking for a complete word processing package to replace MS word Openoffice.org Writer is the best choice.

3. Google docs : For all the online lovers word processing cannot get better than this. Although the product is in beta stage it mimics almost all the most used features of MS Word. And with offline functionality of google docs ( with google gears ) it can be used without internet connection which makes it one of the best competetor in word processing market. The biggest plus point for google docs is availaility of documents on the move ( atleast where ever internet is available ). Also google docs can read and import all the common document types. Give google docs a try and you will love it.

4. IBM Lotus Symphony : Relatively unkown in office suite market IBM lotus Symphony is attrating good share of attention these days. This office suite based on openoffice.org includes a writer with very good features and support for all the common document types. The interface is much smoother and betterl organized than openoffice writer.

5. Zoho Writer: Zoho office was one of the first complete online office suites available, and as with all the other online office tools its still in beta stage. But dont let this beta stop you from using it, zoho writer is probably the best online writer available and in my personal opinion beats google docs fair and square. It even supports offline editing just like google docs.