Starting On A Shoestring
If you're a start up, you've likely been exploring options for office software. There are some really effective products out there. Which one you pick will likely depend on your needs, but the options are certainly available. Some of them you're likely familiar with, but we may be able to share some other options with you, too.ThinkFree is a web-based writing tool that has been around for ages, but has probably flown under your radar. It's Java-based (which may be a plus or a minus, depending on your personal preferences) and looks pretty darn close to Microsoft Office. It offers programs to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Access and some storage is free, but you'll have to pay if you want to collaborate with others on more than 3 projects.
Zoho has become one of our favorites, because it offers so many options. Again, the basic applications are free of charge, but you'll pay for some of the more elaborate offerings, like invoicing clients. The interface is clean, you can import existing documents and Zoho converts them well. Zoho also let's you save (or export) documents into almost every common file format. If Zoho lacks anything, it's a simple calendar program. Both Zoho and Google have recently added the ability to access and work on your documents even when you're offline.
Speaking of Google, that company's suite of office products continues to be one of the favorites to many, probably because everything is accessible from your email page and you can manage multiple calendars and display them together. Both email and the calendar function extremely well on an iPhone, too.
One more that you might want to take a look at is Adobe's Buzzword. We're guessing you'll either absolutely love this product or hate it. It's written in Flash, so it's very elegant in its appearance and offers lots of advanced functions to include photos (not surprising, given that's Adobe's forte'), but it doesn't adhere very well to what you might consider a "normal" layout. In other words, the button to "add an image" isn't where you'll find it in Microsoft Word or in most of the other online writing options.
There are more out there, but this should give you something to play with for a while. Of course, if you're not tied to an online service (and still don't have extra cash to spend), there's always Open Office. Open Office is free to download and use. It's a fully-functional suite of office applications that can open and/or create documents in Microsoft Office formats or an international open standard format.