[X Newbies] Alternatives to Word/MS Office

[marina]

  >AppleWorks does indeed have a "Save as PDF" button.  However, saving
  >documents as PDF files is a standard feature of OS X that every app can
  >tap into and use for free.  If your intention is to share your documents
  >as PDF files, then it doesn't really matter what word processing app you
  >choose to use to create those PDF files.

Thanks Eugene, this is great, and I didn't know it.


  >If you plan to share .doc files to Windoze users so that they can easily
  >edit the content, your safest best is to (unfortunately) buy M$ Office.
  >You can save money by buying the Student and Teacher Edition.  Also, if
  >you attend (or know someone who attends) a university that has a site
  >license for M$ Office, the prices are even cheaper.

I already have a Mac version of MSOffice, and I've been sharing files 
with Windoz users since 1998 (I probably forgot to mention I am new 
to OS X, but not to Mac's...?)

Now what you say though... makes me realise I have probably 
misunderstood something :-)

I am assuming I will be able to run my current copy of MSOffice for 
Mac as a Classic app under OS X (for those rare circumstances where I 
need to share a file with Windoz users, so that they can edit), and 
would like to use something different, i.e. possibly a Mac OS X 
native application, for all my other word processing tasks. Are you 
saying that I will not be able to do this, and will need to buy the 
new version of MSOffice *for Mac OS X*?

Thanks - I am a bit confused, and I apologise if I sound confusing!

marina