Microsoft drops Works -- finally

Okay, count how many times you've gotten a complaint from a less-than-knowledgeable user whose document couldn't be read on a friend's computer. "But they're both Word files!" the poor newbie cries. Uh, no. Almost invariably, one of them was created with Microsoft Works.

This badly conceived and badly managed home applications suite -- one can hardly call it an office suite -- has been bedeviling users for years. People would buy new computers under the impression that they were getting, say, a working word processor, and would only later find out that not only does said word processor offer very little, but it doesn't even use the same format that its big brother Word does.

And now, Microsoft is finally discarding what should have been kicked aside long ago. But of course, now I can't help wondering if what new users will get instead -- "reduced-functionality" editions of Word and Excel, complete with on-screen advertisements -- will be much better. At least, they've got the same format.

Of course, most users who are even somewhat savvy -- or who have friends and/or relatives who can help -- are using the free alternatives to Microsoft Office available for those who don't need to do any heavy lifting with their word processors or spreadsheets. There are certainly plenty of other apps out there, including freeware like OpenOffice.org, and Web apps like Google Docs and Zoho.

But there are still a few hangers-on out there whose computers came with Microsoft Works and who are too shy of new things to switch. If there's somebody like that in your family, be charitable. Don't laugh, don't make fun -- explain gently to them that even Microsoft has abandoned what wasn't a very good suite to begin with, and steer them gently toward, say, OpenOffice. They'll thank you in the end.