I have to agree with chronic user. OO.org is better me thinks. And it is very much inter-operable with MSoffice files. Before you switch download the win32 version and see for yourself.
OO.org 2.0 is supposed to have even more interoperability.
What distribution you planning on installing? Just curious.
Heck if I know! I'm just getting to know Linux as we speak. Like what I'm seeing so far. I'll check out the W32 version -- thanks for the suggestion!