I've been looking for a small word processor to use for fast document creation on my Mac Mini. I tend to have anywhere from four to ten programs open at a time, and the little Mini's too underpowered to keep MS Word open all day while running a slew of other programs. (Not to mention that Mac Word's got buggier since the latest update.)
I've found the perfect solution in AbiWord. I was using Mac's TextEdit, but it's too minimalist: it doesn't zoom or count words.
AbiWord is open-source and free. It's several years since I wrote a magazine review on AbiWord and I'm pleasantly surprised at all the program's enhancements. No, it's not MS Word, but it is small and fast. It does styles, columns, tables, and best of all counts words, which is must-have for any writer's word processor.
AbiWord has its own format, but it also saves in text, DOC, RTF, HTML and other formats too, and it runs on the Mac, Windows, and UNIX.
Technorati Tags: software
