Genine shared this with us in microsoft.public.word.newusers:

If you don't have money to buy the latest version of Word, you could
try looking for previous versons on eBay. Otherwise go to
http://www.openoffice.org. You can download Open Office for free. It
contains a Wordprocessor that can produce Word format files. It's not
as friendly to use as Word, but it's cheap!
Genine

OpenOffice is not as friendly to use as Word for Word users.
On the other hand, Word is not as friendly to use as OpenOffice for
OpenOffice users.
One could say the same about WordPerfect or Lotus WordPro.

It's just a matter of what you're used to!