[ubuntu-za] Transition crisis for users of Microsoft Word

[David Robert Lewis (ethnopunk)]

I recently installed Hardy on an old machine (700mhz celeron) for a 
friend's daughter, and a week after installation, her own XP machine 
fails right during the middle of an editing deadline for a report for 
Provincial Parliament.

Her crisis was whether to continue editing the document on OpenOffice or 
to use an Internet Cafe with exactly the same Office 2003 installed.

As one can imagine, the Hardy Office is relatively old and only supports 
MS Word 2000/97 so she was forced to use the cafe.

Should I upgrade her to the latest OpenOffice to solve problem in the 
future? Will this solve the problem of some images not displaying and 
also formatting problems?

Was also wondering if there was any attempt within Ubuntu Community to 
come-up with a NeoOffice version of OpenOffice, that might have a 
better, more user-friendly interface built on the same chassis?

Regards

DRL