A number of people have recently asked me if I have upgraded to the latest Office yet. They all seemed shocked when I say no and you shouldn't either.

If you are looking at spending money on the latest version of Office ask yourself why? Why are you upgrading?
Do you think it will make you more productive? Do you think it will make your documents look better?
What are you getting for your money?

For most people, the basic functions in Word and Excel are all they use. Even an old version of Word would do what most people want.

Personally I use Open Office. It has more functions than I would ever use. It works on Windows, Linux and Mac. Best of all, its free!

If you are considering upgrading, I would recommend thinking about why you are upgrading. I would also recommend giving Open Office a try.
Open Office and Microsoft Office work fine installed on the same computer if you don't want to risk throwing in Microsoft Office right away.

Another option to try would be the on-line Office software from companies such as Google.