Do you recommend Open Office?
CyberFonic: YES !  Open Office has been my only office package for over two years now. Use it mostly on Ubuntu but also on a spare Windows XP notebook.  No problems sharing files between the two environments. Send documents, etc to others in PDF.  Have struck some compatability issues reading Office 2007 files, but so do Office 2003, etc users.  I just ask people to SaveAs in an older version.I have tried Office 2007 out of curiosity, for me it was less of a transition effort to go to OO than to get used to MSO'07.For publication quality writing I use Lyx and Latex.  Lets me concentrate on the content and not futz with styles, etc.