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Office suite for my mom?

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CWuestefeld:
I know the question of "software that my mom can use" is cliche, but it's actually what I need to find. My mom just got a new computer for Christmas, and was disappointed not to find any software on it (I think she's lucky to have avoided all the crap on a typical new computer  >:()

Anyway, I need to set her up with an office suite. Here are the options that I see:

* Microsoft Office - just costs too much for her, not a feasible candidate
* Corel WordPerfect Office Ver. X3 - I happen to have a couple of NFR copies of this
* Open Office
* Star Office - I think largely the same thing as OO but with addons, so probably preferable
* IBM Lotus Symphony
* Softmaker/Ashampoo - http://www.softmaker.com/english/ofw_en.htm
She needs this both for her presentation (a minister, meaning she'll be writing sermons and maybe making small presentations to groups), as well as her studies (for a Doctor of Divinity, needing to write grad-student quality papers, do presentations for class, including some light charting). She's not a very sophisticated computer user at all; for anything but the most basic operations, she'll find the answer (usually by calling me*), and write down the sequence of menu options so she can do it again later.

(* calling me won't work on anything since MS Office, which I've already eliminated, so ease of use is probably a pretty important factor)

Would anyone like to offer opinions as to which choices would be better or worse?

Edit: add Softmaker to list

Veign:
Why not go with something like Zoho:
http://www.zoho.com/

CWuestefeld:
Why not go with something like Zoho:
http://www.zoho.com/
-Veign (December 31, 2007, 03:16 PM)
--- End quote ---
I don't know anything about it. Can you contrast it with the others that I mentioned? (I can't get to their web page from here; our evil proxy server blocks the site)

cmpm:
I'd load up OpenOffice and StarOffice since they are free and see if she likes them before investing in ms office.

There is also AbiWord, which is a quick word processor.
Not ms word but enough to write and edit with some flare.

http://filehippo.com/software/office/

I use it cuz it pops up quick like wordpad.

Grorgy:
Maybe the one from Ashampoo,  rebadged from softmaker (http://www.softmaker.de)  ( http://www.softmaker.com/english/ , if your german isnt real good lol) textmaker and plan maker and i think there is a new presentation program in the new suite.  Softmaker seem to have academic pricing on the old version (2006) as well.

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