Microsoft Office is an expensive suite of programs that is almost a necessity these days. Cheap versions of Office run between $130 - $180, if you want the full premium version you can expect to pay well over $300! The reason that Microsoft Office is important is because of the compatibility across the world. Word's .doc extension will work only with Word, for example. Same goes for Excel and PowerPoint. As long as everyone has these Office programs they are able to send and receive documents and files without worrying about the ability to open them properly.
    Finally there's a viable, and cheap, solution to Microsoft's monopoly on word processing and datasheet programs, it's called Open Office. There are five programs that come with Open Office; Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, and Base. All programs are compatible with just about ANY office suite, including Microsoft Office. Best of all, though, is that it's FREE! Visit OpenOffice.org for information and places to download this great office software.