what program is similar to microsoft word
AbiWord is a free word processing application very similar to Microsoft Word. It is a full cross-platform program, meaning that you can run it on Linux, Mac OSX and Windows. The software is fully compatible with not only Microsoft Word but also Apache open office, Word Perfect and Palm OS.
Although Microsoft Office is still the dominant office suite, over the past few years many alternatives have been emerging to Microsoft Word and Office. They are either free or low cost alternatives for Word, Excel and PowerPoint. A notable free word alternative is Kingsoft Writer.
Neo Office: NeoOffice is an office software suite made for Mac OS X users. The NeoOffice suite allows users to view, edit and save OpenOffice documents, PDF files, and most Microsoft Word documents, PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets.