I've got a machine with XP but no Office. Can I get Open Office for it for free and if so, is there a version I could get that would equivalent to Microsoft Office 2007?
Yes, just google Open Office and you can download OpenOffice 3 for free. It's compatible with Word 2007 documents and I just used it yesterday to fill in a very long job application form that had been written on Word2007 and I also use the spreadsheet part of OpenOffice to great effect, though I do much prefer Works to Office for that. My new lappy came with a free 60 day trial of Microsoft Office but I can't see the point of spending money on the full product when OpenOffice is so good.