"I don't often make a habit of opening Office documents. Normally, when I receive a press release or white paper from PR folks in Microsoft Word format, I send it back with a gentle reminder that there are people who don't use Windows or Office, and that even if I did, I'm not looking to pick up an MSTD (Microsoft Transmitted Disease) by opening Word documents from unknown sources. Most PR folks are happy to resend documents in plain-text or PDF format.
"However, when I've been on deadline or otherwise don't feel like trying to go through the hassle of getting a different format, I just open the document in OpenOffice.org. It's been quite some time since I found a document that it couldn't open in a reasonable approximation of the original layout. With the advent of Office 2003, however, I'm afaid that's all about to change again..."
