So you just got a new PC, and it doesn't come with Microsoft Office. You really want to write up some letters and fliers, and edit some documents you already have, and Wordpad just doesn't cut it. What to do?

You could go out and buy Microsoft Works (MSRP $39.95). It comes with a basic word processor, spreadsheet and calendar. But the key word here is "basic," and besides, it costs money. Or you could get Microsoft Equipt (MSRP $70.00), available at Circuit City, which includes the full Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 as well as Windows Live OneCare. It also allows you to install it on up to three separate PCs. But not only does it cost money, you don't just pay for it up front - it's a subscription that you have to keep paying them every year, or you won't be able to create new documents.

Here are three programs that will let you create new documents and work with existing ones, without having to pay any money. They can't save files in Microsoft Office 2007's new ".docx" format just yet, but for home users this isn't as much of a concern - just ask your friends to send you a normal .doc file instead.

AbiWord Word Processor

If all that you need to do is write up a few letters, AbiWord has what you're looking for. It's extremely lightweight, and at the same time it contains its own spellchecker and grammar checker, as well as an optional dictionary. It saves files in its own file format by default, but you can set it to save things as .doc files so other programs can open them. And because it loads up so quickly, you won't need to sit there waiting to get started - just open it up and start typing!

AbiWord free download: http://www.abisource.com/download/

OpenOffice.org Office Suite

If you need a full replacement for Microsoft Office and you need it now, then you need OpenOffice.org. With a full-on, feature-packed word processor called Writer, a Excel-compatible spreadsheet called Calc, a Powerpoint-style presentation creator called Impress, and its own drawing and database programs, OpenOffice.org has everything you need to get back to work for free.

It's called "Open" Office because the program itself is open-source, meaning that people all over the world have helped make it by submitting ideas and programming code. It also has tons of optional templates and extensions, that give it new functionality.

OpenOffice.org free download: http://download.openoffice.org/

IBM Lotus Symphony

IBM's Lotus Symphony office suite is built on top of OpenOffice.org, taking its most popular components (word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation creator) and wrapping them all in a sleek new interface. Some of the more complex features were thrown out, while the basic features have been streamlined and made easier to understand. It takes a minute to load up at first, but once it's up and running you may find it even easier to use than Microsoft Office was.

IBM Lotus Symphony free download: http://symphony.lotus.com/

The Upshot

Microsoft doesn't like that there are free alternatives to its Microsoft Office suite, and it doesn't exactly tell everyone how to make their software compatible. That means the programmers have to guess and reverse-engineer things, and because of that you may come across a few quirks when opening Microsoft Office files in these free alternatives. And Microsoft's new Office 2007 file formats are so complex that they still haven't been fully figured out yet as of 2008.

On the other hand, Microsoft Office costs money. And if you don't need all of its features and full compatibility, then don't spend your money on it! Leave that to the corporate types, who've been using Microsoft Office for so long that they have little choice but to upgrade to the next version. Instead, give one of these free alternatives a shot - you may find that they have everything you're looking for. And when the next version of one of these programs comes out, you won't have to pay for it, either.

*Contributed by Jared Spurbeck, on Associated Content , Originally published Aug 13, 2008