Word processor war hots up with new (free) arrivals

I have just come across and have been trialling some new word processors, which I want to discuss. But first, have you noticed that of the several dozen word processors and/or office suites now available, the only one you have to pay for is Microsoft's? How long can they withstand the accelerating assault? Okay, Microsoft Office has many features not found in these others, but be honest - how many of those features do you actually use? And there is a big cost attached, not just in price, but in real estate. Office 2007 weighs in at over 400mb, and that's without the recent Service Pack upgrade (which is a 300mb install file). I suspect that Microsoft developed the .docx format to try and lock people into their system, but as many of the new alternatives can happily open .docx files, that's not a bar to using others. Apart from inertia, or the probably misplaced concern that you will lose compatibility if you move away from your Word comfort zone, I can see almost no reason not to change. So here are some of the recent arrivals:
Kingsoft Office is top of my list. It's what OpenOffice.org should have been. At 101mb installed, it's less than a third in size of the Big Two, and it launches much faster. It has all the bells and whistles you need, with a nice interface - very like what Microsoft Word would have looked like if they had not introduced the hateful Ribbon. It comes with spreadsheet module and presentation module as well. And it opens .docx files. I understand it was developed in China, but you would never know.
Jarte was developed from the same engine that drives WordPad (the built-in word processor that comes with Windows and which hardly anyone uses, generally for good reason). Jarte (how do you pronounce it?) is like WordPad on steroids. It has a completely different kind of interface which takes a few minutes to adjust to, but the opening screen gives you some good pointers. Two big pluses - it occupies only 5.5mb of disk space, and launches almost instantaneously. And it opens .docx files. There are limitations. This is a word processor, not a pseudo layout program as Word tries unsuccessfuly to be. So there are no floating text boxes, drawing tools and the like. But nonetheless it has a surprising amount of features.
Softmaker Office is another office suite, but just with word processor (Textmaker) and spreadsheet (Planmaker). In terms of interface, it looks a bit like a slightly more basic OpenOffice.org, but again it has most functions you would require. The amazing thing is that it comes in at a miniscule 2.4mb size, and again launches quickly. It also opens .docx files. If you have an older computer that is struggling to keep up with the increasing system demands of recent software, this would be a good option.
I haven't mentioned AbiWord, an open source project that has been around for years. It's fairly basic, and the interface is looking rather tired now, but it's still fairly popular in the Linux community. In light of the above new entries, I don't think it cuts it the way it once did.

Is there life beyond Word?

Microsoft Word is ubiquitous, even with all its competitors (such as OpenOffice.org). It is almost universal because most people have to have it to be able to send and receive documents to other people. But what if that way of working became irrelevant? After all, I am not using Word to write this blog, and I don't use it for a lot of other tasks these days. Jeremy Reimer envisages a different way of working that completely by-passes Word (or any other word processor). He is coming to the conclusion that it is like the typewriter of old, near to being superseded.

Free word processors

A colleague has an ageing computer, which can run only an old version of Word. She can't afford to purchase a new version, so what to do? Fortunately, there is a large range of open source (ie, free) word processors available, some of which give Microsoft Office a hefty run for its money. The most popular is probably OpenOffice.org, which almost matches Word feature-for-feature, and in addition adds a few which Office does not have, such as a drawing program. In addition, it has an installed user base of millions of people, so there is plenty of help if you strike difficulties. A list of the best-known word processors is here, and most of these run on Mac and Linux as well as Windows.
A new Office package I have only just heard of, and which is not included in the above list, is The Fifth Element, from Ssuite Software. It apparently packs in even more features than OpenOffice.org. Certainly you can't lose by trying any of these (except maybe if you exceed your broadband download cap).

Doing it for free

One of the great things about the internet is that for almost every high-priced piece of commercial software, there is a free alternative available. In fact, some of the free offerings beat the pants off the commercial, particularly at the price! Here are some of my "can't do without" favourites:
Irfanview - an image editor (think Photoshop lite), that also doubles as a photo organiser. Has amazing capabilities for such a small footprint. Can also play many video files (eg, the movies you take on your digital camera).
Audacity - a sound editor I use all the time. You can also stretch or condense sounds (including songs) without changing pitch, move songs up or down a key, and much more.
OpenOffice.org - equivalent to Microsoft Office. Has all the bells and whistles, without the awful "ribbon" introduced by Office 2007 (and which I loathe). Has modules equivalent to Excel, PowerPoint and Access, as well as a drawing module, but the PowerPoint module is not well implemented and probably is better avoided.
EditPad Lite - a general-purpose text editor (a replacement for the Windows Notepad, but can do much more), small and compact with lots of functions.
Copernic Destop Search - I have posted separately on this.
VLC Media Player - can play all those videos and movies that Windows Media Player won't touch. Don't be fooled by its utterly basic interface.
CDex - a CD ripper (ie, copies music tracks from your CDs to your computer).
PdfEdit995 - Can create pdf files from any programme that has a print function. Can also convert pdf documents to Word format files, and much more.
Feel free to share your top favourites.