I’m a long time user of the applications that make up Microsoft Office for Windows. Like many other people I know, I came from roots in Word Perfect 5.1 for DOS. Actually it was version 4.2 that my journey into word processing began. I’ve also tinkered with MS Office on Macintosh.

Over the years, many of the companies I’ve worked for ultimately decided to consolidate with MS Office because of file sharing and compatibility. As networked computers became more common and sending an attached file was made easier with Eudora or Outlook, the need for compatibility increased. This was particularly true when many Word Documents would no longer fit on a floppy. Do you remember running across the building to share files?

Anyway, I’ve started playing with OpenOffice 1.0 and have been very impressed. So much that I’d consider switching once I’ve tested all the features I’ve ever used in MS Office. It isn’t that I’m dissatisfied with MS Office, except for its price. Maybe I’ll start a running comparison of features across the various alternative suites. If someone has already done this, I’d sure appreciate a note telling me where to find the results.

If you are a MS Office user, what motivates you to stay with this particular suite? If you don’t use it, why do you use the suite you currently use?