In case you haven't heard, M$ is auditing a dozen or so large school districts for compliance on licensing. Of course, this will be ugly and will run one district an estimated $1,000,000 per year to comply with M$. That's $1,000,000 more then they pay now. M$ is offering a simplified arrangement whereby a school system pays a flat fee for every Intel box (regardless of what it might actually be running) that would run that same district about $30,000. You can see where this is headed! Aside from noting that people's dishonesty about paying the real costs associated with M$ software has gotten them into this trouble (if only because the real costs are not apparent to "management"), I'm wondering what is available as a real alternative to M$ for the great unwashed masses. Of course, the answer I would expect to hear is "Linux!", but... I'm talking about a solution that is useable by those who are not rabid members of a LUG, or Sys admins in their day job. I'm talking about productivity software that will seamlessly read and write M$ file formats (Excel, Word, etc.). I don't know, for example, if Star Office is a real alternative because I don't know how well it interoperates with those who use Word, for example, on a daily basis. Perhaps there is a solution that will reliably run M$ applications without having to buy the OS, but that is only a step in the right direction. I was hoping to hear suggestions about what is out there and if Linux is ready to work seamlessly in heterogeneous High-Tech world. This might be a good topic for one of the WLUG meetings... Steve