Best word processor for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

[828688 Ben]

What is the best word processor for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, and why.

Thanks,
Ben

[hikaricore]

Best is arbitrary...

For example: Which pizza chain makes the best pizza and why?

Why don't you try AbiWord, OpenOffice, etc and see which works best for you.
With no critera to judge on besides a vague post no one but you knows what you need.

[828688 Ben]

In your opinion, which do you prefer Abiword or Openoffice. The reason that I'm not trying them out myself is because I will be installing the word processor on someone else's computer, and I have no way of testing them out before hand.

Thanks,
Ben

[828688 Ben]

Please the programs on:

Ease of use for a person previously using and familiar with Microsoft Word
Compatibly with Microsoft Word formats (including the more recent Word document formats)
General look and feel of the program (Again, easy to use and understand)

Again, Thanks,
Ben

[carlexpc]

If the would be user of the word processor you are going to install is a user of M$ Office, the closest alternative would be OpenOffice.org Writer. I could say it's very intuitive and feature rich and reliable.

[bodhi.zazen]

It depends on what features you want in a word processor.

command line - vim or nano

graphical - I like gedit, it is light weight and fast, has spell checking, so it does "the basics".

If you need a little more, go for abiword.

If you need all the bells and whistles go with OpenOffice.

[mike555]

Why not install both OpenOffice and Abiword ... OpenOffice is good at opening mostly any file and Abiword is smaller and may be better for every day use..

[getpdh]

I was really happy with OO, but Libre seems to be a backwards step, despite all the adulation. It's terribly buggy and slow. Went to Kword, which is really sweet, but there seemed to be a lot of issues with it when opening up documents that weren't created in it, which makes it next to useless. So, until Libre sorts its act out, I'm using ABIword for most of my day-to-day stuff - its clean , flawless, quick and easy. Just using Libre word for stuff with heavy formatting, which is only two of my regularly used documents.

[jazzon]

Since you are doing this for someone else, and (unwisely) most ppl use windows and (so even we *nix heads) share files with windows users, open office woulod be your best bet. It gives the options to output files as .pdf, .doc, and other common M$ formats.

Also similar in "feel" to M$ Office.

[Topsiho]

Why don't you try AbiWord, OpenOffice, etc and see which works best for you.

+1 for this

Installing both, and KOffice etc. costs nothing, and the person you install it for can decide for him/herself.
You could also tell him/her how to install/uninstall from the repositories. Which is the really best advise.

Topsiho