Microsoft word 97?

People who do not use MS Office sometimes find it difficult to use a Word document. Various solutions have been created. Since the format is the de facto standard, many word processors such as AbiWord or OpenOffice.org Writer need file import and export filters for Microsoft Word's document file format to compete. Furthermore, there is Apache Jakarta POI, which is an open-source Java library that aims to read and write Word's binary file. Most of this interoperability is achieved through reverse engineering since documentation of the file format, while available to partners, is not openly available. For the last 10 years Microsoft has also made available freeware viewer programs for Windows that can read Word documents without a full version of the MS Word software.