have you seen the size of open office???? - it is a massive download. certainly watso has used open office - (it is available for both linux and windows) - and is preferable than buying ms office. watso has free versions of ms office - but they could be full of viruses .
for what it is worth - but somebody has done a comparison of open office to softmaker
the beauty of softmaker is, that it can be broken up into its constituent parts. most people only ever use a word processor - and maybe need a power point viewer, to see the powerpoint attachements from emails. most people will never need to use a spread sheet