where can I find a cheapie version of Word for pc?

Abiword: http://www.abisource.com/

or

Openoffice: http://www.openoffice.org/

Both will do you fine. Openoffice is more of a full Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.), Abiword is just word processing. I've heard good things about it, but have not personally used it.

I have used OpenOffice and it is surprisingly good. I wasn't willing to pay for PowerPoint, and got it, but also got their version of Word, Excel and other stuff, too. Very nice.

I love open office

I got open office too. It's awesome.

heres a lsit of the top online word processors for free http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/06/22/10-free-minimalist-word-processors/

or just use OpenOffice - its really good plus you can carry OpenOffice around in your flash drive

okay - so I just want to preface this w/ saying that I have always been a HUGE Microsoft critic, and still think a lot of what they do is crap... mostly because it's true. But that being said, i will say something about word, and office at large. I've always hated it.. but never really knew how much I hated it until recently. ..sort of.
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There is a reason that people make TONS of money doing teach-ins for MS products like word, or excel, and it's because they are SO convoluted, and inaccessible. Now of course that's extreme, but I'm willing to say the same thing about just about every word processing program I've come across. They all have drop-down menus filled with options, or pop-up boxes, and i used to always feel like productivity was hiding somewhere deep within a novel by Joseph Conrad.
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and so.. I don't want this to sound like a product placement, or anything, but i think that when a company finally does something right, for the first time in like ten years.. that the designers and programmers deserve a little credit. Office 2007 is actually different, and it's actually awesome.
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It feels remarkably strange to be saying such good things about an MS product.. but it's really just that awesome. I feel like people have all become overly attached to a style of word processing program (and they are all designed pretty much the same), and that this is the first out-of-the-box approach i've seen in ages. In many ways it's like our blind adherence to our keyboard layout - specifically designed to impede speed.. yet still we all use it. blindness, i say.
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that's it.. sorry for the rant. oh, and I used to use openOffice, and among menu-bar programs of it's kind, it was so bad, but it took way too long to load for some reason.

That depends on your using style. At work, everything is microsoft. I find office 07 to be the worst version yet. I never found a productivity problem before, once you know key commands and shortcuts, things work fine. However, 07 seems to destroy all the foundation of previous versions.

Anyway, its just depends on your style. Find a trial of 07 and play with it.

I think Perchik is right, but I think it's less of an issue about "style" so much as it's an issue with how familiar one is with whatever product they've already been using. So if you're an avid Office, or OpenOffice user.. by all means stick with it.
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But i think that that's why it's so comparable to the situation with our keyboards. No one switches to a better, faster layout precisely because we already know how to type on this layout.. sure we may be half again as fast on another style.. but it would take some serious investement to relearn our typing skills.
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But if you're not much of an Office pro, really, then I think part of what I like about 07 is that it just lays it all out for you. It makes sense that so many long time officer-workers have been opposed to 07, because it's true - short cuts are different and/or gone - the layout is totally different. But I think that's just the inherent negative reaction to change, because change is never easy.
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So long story short.. i just kind of think that 07 is also a lot more accessible to people who haven't already had all of the Office experience and/or workshops, etc.

Office 07 is a good representation of the whole Microsoft mindset now: simpler is better. This is evident in Vista (even XP) as compared to older version like 98 and 95. If you're a computer person and/or want more advanced controls, it seems that with the new Microsoft stuff, we're not welcome. However, if you are an average end user, then the new stuff is designed for you.

That's my observation anyway, and to me, its a flaw in Microsoft's new design ideas.

Open Office is an excellent alternative for MS Office. It is free.

if you, or someone in your family is a student%u2014like your kids%u2014or a teacher%u2014(do you do any homeschooling?)%u2014you may legitimately qualify for the Educational version of Office, which is a lot less expensive

Openoffice is by far the best. If you ask me, I prefer it better the Microsoft Word

to all the open office comments, like i said i agree that it's great, and maybe even better than those older versions of Word that it's comparable. also john is right about the Ed versions being WAY cheaper, and it's pretty easy to come by them most of the time - to the point where if you just straight up buy a copy of Office, you're almost getting suckered.

@ Perchik - i think you're right about that in large part - I think that's what I was vaguely trying to get at by saying that it was more accessible. But at the same time I would make sure to differentiate between advanced controls, and advanced features: meaning i don't think 07 necessarily has any fewer features, only less advanced styles of control.
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also.. as far as a flaw in their design ideas, i can understand you're perspective but i have to play the devil's advocate, i think. when it comes to the more common products like Word (as opposed to Publisher, or Access), I think that there are probably an exponentially greater number of begining to mid-range or moderate users than there are advanced users.. in fact it might almost be classified as one of the most common programs around. Given this fact, don't you think that with this set of products at least, that it makes more sense for Microsoft to finally pay attention to the needs of their largest consumer base??
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And I know what you mean about Vista, and even XP, but consider that Exchange server only got MORE complicated and advanced, not less.. Windows Server didn't take the Vista route.. nor did Publisher, or Access, or a lot of the more technical/advanced programs that they have. To me this seems like it could be suggestive of a change in Microsoft's attitude toward how they view their customer base(s)... don't you think?

Exactly. Personally I think thats a problem. The Windows Server NEEDS some softening, whereas Windows really needs some inner workings that can be changed.

I think they are dividing their users into two distinct categories. There seems to be no room in the middle though.

(I believe we're saying the same thing. I agree with you )

I too think we're pretty much on the same page - but what it comes down to really is money. I think their going to make more money this way, in the long run, because they're designing more specifically for their larger base.. which is the average end user. and in this case it's that 07 turns the average end user into an expert by making it more easy than words could express..
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but ya. we pretty much agree i think. so that's cool. I think we should both go through and "great answer" each other into oblivion, eh? heh. ;-)

Wait a second... Why hasn't AppleWorks been mentioned yet? If it has, sorry.

heh.. AppleWorks. that's funny. :-)

If you are looking for an alternative for just MS Word go for Abiword. If you need an entire free office suite to replace MS Office, go for Open Office.Org