FREE Office Productivity Software

If you need Microsoft Office Suite/Microsoft Word try using Google Docs

If you need Microsoft Excel try using Google Spreadsheets

If you need Microsoft PowerPoint try using Google Presentations

www.docs.google.com 

Free License. No download necessary. Use Online. Anywhere. Anytime.

You can also install Google Gears on your computer which syncs your files for use Offline.

Create basic documents from scratch or start from a template. You can easily do all the basics, including making bulleted lists, sorting by columns, adding tables, images, comments, formulas, changing fonts and more. Upload your existing files. Google Docs accepts most popular file formats, including DOC, XLS, ODT, ODS, RTF, CSV, PPT, etc. So go ahead and upload your existing files. Familiar desktop feel makes editing a breeze. Just click the toolbar buttons to bold, underline, indent, change font or number format, change cell background color and so on. The best part of Google Docs is sharing and collaboration. Multiple people can share and edit the same document...at the same time! Great for projects. You can give your co-worker full 'edit' rights to a document and share it with a client and only allow them 'viewing' rights. You can't do that with Office unless everyone has an expensive license. Plus it's integrated with all the Google products like Blogger, Picasa Photos, Sites, Groups and Calendar.

If you need a desktop email solution like Microsoft Outlook try using 

Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0

http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/ 

Free License. Free Download.

It works seemlessly with Gmail, Hotmail and just about any other email service. You can enter all your email accounts here in one location and manage, receive and send all your emails. I like as well as Outlook. You can even view your Google Calendar, add and delete items, in Thunderbird. A great tool.