additional to section 5

Upon using the link to OpenOffice, i discovered the following facts;
OpenOffice is opensource software and uses the Open Document Format (ODF), as well as Microsoft Office formats.
Regading the support question i had, it seems the pattern is new releases approx. every 18 months, and updates, and/or bug fixes can be made available in as little as 8 weeks after initial release. Most recently new versions and features are coming out in 6mos time. In Jan 2010, OpenOffice.org will release ver. 3.2 with new features, performance enhancements, etc.
In summary, without using this app yet, it seems that there might be problems i may not want to deal with, even with the 'free' tagged to it.

This Wiki page does have a substantial list of some 'references' at the bottom of the page.
Here is one example: (from about 100)
"Features planned for OOo 3.2 (November 2009)". Features. OpenOffice.org wiki. 2009-08-01. http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Features#Features_planned_for_OOo_3.2_.28November_2009.29. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
Also, there were just a few book references, namely the following, that seemed in line with the info i was initially looking for:

Tamar E. Granor, Scott Carr, Sam Hiser. OOoSwitch: 501 Things You Want to Know About Switching To OpenOffice.org from Microsoft Office. p. 311. ISBN 1930919360.