AbiWord is a free word processing program similar to Microsoft® Word. It is suitable for typing papers, letters, reports, memos, and so forth

Like most Open Source projects, AbiWord started as a cathedral, but has become more like a bazaar.

AbiWord is part of a larger project known as AbiSource, which was started by the SourceGear Corporation.

The goal of the project was the development of a cross-platform, Open Source office suite beginning with AbiWord, the project's word processor.

AbiWord is unique among word processors in its drive to become a fully cross-platform word processor.

Our source code is carefully written so that AbiWord will run on virtually any operating system with a minimum of time spent on porting.

This combined with our support for internationalization (the ability to run AbiWord in many languages) gives AbiWord a massive potential user-base.

Currently we run on most UNIX systems, Windows 95 and later, QNX Neutrino 6.2. We also have a MacOS X native port in the way (you can still use the UNIX version on MacOS X if you want).

There used to be a BeOS port, but that version has been gone unmaitained for too long to consider it as still alive; we dreamt that it was any different, so if you want to help, feel free to contact us.

Enjoy your favorite Word Processor on the operating system you like to use - be it Windows, Linux, QNX, FreeBSD or Solaris.

AbiWord has been designed to integrate perfectly with the operating system it runs on. It will take advantage of the functionality provided by the system, such as image loading or printing capabilities.