Here we have two office suites that are very strong, but for slightly different reasons.

Certainly the best here is Corel WordPerfect Office X3, even in the Standard guise we've looked at in this face-off. It's packed with interesting options, with small areas that have been infested with so much attention that you're hard pushed to think of what more they could do. Granted, the PDF options need some tuning, but with probably the finest word processor on the market at the heart of the suite, Corel has turned in some excellent work here.

OpenOffice.org 2 is, truthfully, some distance behind it. But that's not the point. Because for all its spit and polish, WordPerfect Office X3 doesn't offer much in the way of compelling extra features over its open source rival. True, Corel has implemented its ideas with more focus and to better effect, and undeniably if price is no object then the Corel suite walks away with the prize here.

But price is an object, and if our money were on the line we'd take OpenOffice.org 2, warts and all. Because if you accept that there are warts, and there are elements where you'll not have the usual support safety net, then it's the bargain of the year.