Word seems to be the worlds default word processor, but it has never been cheap to buy. Word is part of Microsoft Office which come in several flavours:-

Office 2003 Standard - $870 + GST

Word 2003, Excel 2003, Outlook 2003 and Powerpoint 2003.

Office 2003 Small Business Edition - $888 + GST

Word 2003, Excel 2003, Outlook 2003, Powerpoint 2, Publisher 2003 and Outlook Business Contact ,Manager.

Office 2003 Professional - $1087 + GST

Word 2003, Excel 2003, Outlook 2003,
Powerpoint 2003, Access 2003, Publisher 2003 and
Business Contact Manager.

These products, as you can, see are expensive!

But if you are a school or a student you get a special deal on these products.

(e.g. Office Standard at $250 + GST)

To be a student you need to be enrolled on some sort of academic course. Even doing the free polytech computer course qualifies you for the academic price.

To all intents and purposed the academic versions of office is identical to the full versions - only cheaper!

If you are not a student, but still want a great deal on MS Office, there is one other way - OEM.

OEM means that Microsoft makes its software products available at a reduced price if the product is sold with some computer hardware. Typically this means a computer, however it could be just a keyboard or a mouse. Hence for the cost of a $15 mouse you can achieve a saving of hundreds of dollars. In fact the OEN prices are similar to the academic prices.