A friend called over the weekend. She had just purchased a new PC. I'll leave the brand unnamed, since it doesn't matter in this case.
She was installing the 6 month AOL trial that came with the PC. It asked for a credit card number. Free for 6 months...then we start charging you. And, of course, you could sign up on line, but you had to write down the number to call and cancel the service when the free trial was up.
Also, it came with an Office TRIAL. My friend said, "I bought a PC with Windows XP. Doesn't that include word processing?" Well...unless you count the built-in WordPad program, no. And you'd be surprised how many people don't know this. Bundling PC programs with the PC has produced confusion for many people.
I know, you're not one of those people. You're reading this blog.
But it's enough to make someone Google "free office software." You might find StarOffice from Sun ($70), or Open Office (free).
