I use AbiWord for about 90% of my word processing needs. The fact that it is not loaded down with a lot of the extra features makes it a very fast and simple to use. Taken from the AbiWord website:
AbiWord is a small and simple word processor, that is fast and complete. AbiWord features include the ability to format pages and paragraphs, a spell checker, an interactive rule, the integration of styles, the unlimited capacity to undo/redo , a find and replace function, image insertion, support for tables, lists and a Microsoft Word exporter. It is also able to import documents from Microsoft Word 97 and rtf (Rich Text Format) and to save documents using Internet HTML format.
But the most significant difference of AbiWord compared to almost all the other word processors available is the format of it's native files. A document saved under AbiWord has an extension by default of *.abw and is written in XML and thus in ASCII format. These files can then be read by any text editor. That does not mean that AbiWord is a XML editor. AbiWord is a word processor which uses the XML like a practical syntax for representation of documents. It is total new compared to the other traditional word processors and that ensures that when a document is written with AbiWord, it is tied to no particular word processor; word processors which will become obsolete in the five years to come.
