As a thrift store shopper I'm always looking for ways to save a buck. Google provides a couple of tools for free that you should consider before buying Microsoft Office products. If you want basic Office apps like Excel or Word you should consider using Google Docs.
Whenever you post something like this you always risk getting flamed because people will say "I already knew that, way to be obtuse". However, there are plenty of people who don't know about Google Docs and are ready to drop $150 on Microsoft products.
A few great things about Google Docs. First, you can save documents with .doc or .xls (haven't tried their version of PowerPoint yet) file extensions. Which means you or other people can open them with Word. GD doesn't have every bell and whistle but if you simply want to write a term paper or something simple, there's no better way.
You can store documents on Google servers (as well as other files from other apps as well, long story). This means if you are working on the great American novel but don't have access to you laptop you can sign on to Google and work on your document.
Documents can be shared and updated globally. You can collaborate with other people because they can access the document and work on it at the same time. Great for projects.
There is one caveat. Though you can store the documents on your machine, if you store them on Google servers then conceviably they could be accessed without your knowledge. The odds are slim that you'd be hacked but truth be told, you shouldn't have ANY private data stored on your laptop or PC much less on Google's server (yeah, I know, cloud, nevermind). You should be cautious with any private data.
Picasa is another great tool. It isn't Photoshop but it does allow you to enhance pictures, re-size them, upload them to photo sites, etc. Lets face it, people with Photoshop don't use all the fantastic tools available.
The last great tool that isn't a Google product is Windows Movie Maker. It allows you to perform simple movie editing. If your camera can take movies with still pics it is a great tool for beginners.
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