Ability Office Business version 5.0 falls between unpolished free gems such as OpenOffice and Google Docs, and the ultra-expensive, feature intensive Microsoft Office 2007. But unlike free rivals, Ability is feature-rich and familiar to MS Office users. It will make a welcome, inexpensive and useful addition to almost every office workstation.

Users comfortable with Microsoft Office may find it takes time to get used to Apple iWork '08. Advanced Word and Excel users, especially those who rely on specialised features and functions, will probably find Apple Pages '08 and Apple Numbers '08 to be limited. If you do rely on specific functions in Microsoft Excel or features in any of the Microsoft Office applications that are even slightly outside the more general types of usage, you will probably want to download the Apple iWork '08 30-day trial to ensure that the tools you need are there before buying. And, to be sure, the process of having to export files when interacting with Microsoft Office users could get old quickly if you have to do that regularly. But overall, Apple iWork '08 is beautifully designed -- a compelling product and great value for consumers and small business alike. It brings tons of innovation over previous versions of Apple iWork as well as many office suites on the market. And it turns typical office tasks and documents into creative outlets. That it offers all that it does for $99 is, frankly, hard to believe.

For light users with even a passing knowledge of Microsoft Office, Ashampoo Office 2008 will be a decent buy that's familiar and easy to use (just as well, given the lack of documentation). In our tests we encountered no compatibility issues. But although $103 is a lot less than MS Office 2007's retail price of $690, similar products such as Star Office 8.0 ($69.95) are much less still. And if you're in the market for an inexpensive, stripped down productivity suite, OpenOffice.org and Google Docs, Spreadsheets and Presentations are so cheap they're, well, free.

Price-conscious buyers are more likely to look at completely free competitors such as OpenOffice.org and IBM Symphony. Nevertheless, WordPerfect keeps its best features and adds enough new ones to keep current users satisfied - and its increased compatibility with Microsoft Office is worth the upgrade fee.

Minor irritations aside, we think people who use their PC for business -- and who are looking for a real productivity-suite upgrade -- might very well find what they need in Corel WordPerfect Office X3.

Modest upgrade to a solid suite offers better (but not flawless) Microsoft Office compatibility.

EIOffice's familiar Microsoft-like interface makes the transition to an alternative office suite easier. However, the Binder system could scare off inexperienced computer users.

Google Docs' presentation tool is, ultimately, a rough draft that thoroughly deserves the beta label. Google reportedly plans to beef up the editing tools, eventually turning Google Docs into a richer environment. Judging from the slow-but-steady progress of Google Docs' word processor and spreadsheet, the presentation features probably won't acquire PowerPoint-crushing sophistication any time soon. That said, Google Docs should become only more useful over the coming months and, in the meantime, a lot of people are going to find it very useful indeed.

IBM says that the full version 1.0 of IBM Lotus Symphony will be available in the first quarter of 2008, and it will still be free of charge. That's a good thing, as the zero price point is Lotus Symphony's best calling card. It's an efficient program with a handsome interface but with feature enhancements still to be made. While powerful, it certainly does not rival Office's robust capabilities -- yet.

Intuit QuickBooks Pro & Payroll 2008's documentation is concise and very clear, and this really is one program that even the occasional user will be able to get to grips with when running their business. Expert users may prefer to stick with Sage, but for anyone else QuickBooks really is the most intuitive application in this field. The only negative is that, compared to MYOB, this is a touch pricey.

KOffice looks like it has a great future on all three popular desktop operating systems. The developers need to focus on optimisation and stability for it to be a real hit.

Meets the needs of most PC users, at a bargain price.