If you are an affiliate who doesn't have a word processor on their computer, and you want to quickly write something up in a word processing program, you have a couple choices, both of which have their drawbacks. You can either go out and pay Microsoft a bunch of money to get a copy of Word or you can use one of the alternative programs that are out there like Open Office.

While Word can do a ton of fancy stuff, the average user will likely never do a whole lot with the more advanced Word features, and paying Microsoft and bunch of money for Word never feels that good. Open Office is a good (and free) alternative, but going through the process of downloading and installing can be a bit of a hassle - so if you are into instant gratification, you're not going to be happy.

Luckily, if you are the type who is as impatient as I am, there are some online alternatives to traditional word processing programs that will get you processing in less than a minute.

The first of these alternatives is Google Docs. If you currently have a Google login, Docs is ready and available to you. Just sign in, follow this link and start typing.

Another alternative, if you are scared of the giant Borg of Google eating your thoughts, is a new site called Buzzword. I am actually using Buzzword to type up this blog post and it's working quite well. The site has a very clean design and the navigation and functions are all quite intuitive (something that can't really be said for the latest version of Microsoft Word).

The interesting thing about Buzzwords is that it is flash based, which to me is a neat use of Flash technology.

Both Google Docs and Buzzword natively allow you to output your documents into traditional Word formats, so you don't have to worry about compatibility problems with other programs (yet another problem with the new Word, which likes to put out documents in the "new" Word format which does not play well with other word processors). Both also have sharing and collaboration functionality...which is quite neat.

So if you're looking to save some cash but you still want to process some words, think about using one of the Word alternatives out there. For quick and dirty web work, they are all that you really need.

[Thanks to Web Worker Daily for pointing out Buzzword]