Now this is something I definitely agree with you on!!!!
I've been using thunderbird and firefox for many years.
Open Office is good, but be careful of saving any MSoffice generated stuff, it may not end up quite the way you'd like.
I keep excel temperature records of this passive solar house, if I save with open office, the chart format is quite different.

While you're experimenting with open source software, try the "Gimp" for photo editing, to my non professional eyes it seems as powerful as photoshop. And for audio stuff "Audacity" is fantastic.

cheers decrepit,

i will keep an eye on open office, i have budget spreadsheets for home that i am keen to see remain as they are currently formated.

i've tried gimp and wasn't happy with it. could have been user error of course.
for audio i was using cubase which i have a registered version of. been a year since doing any recording though. not enough time. i haven't tried audacity.

p.s. i thought everyone agreed with me all of the time.

pps. your water and electricity bill is inspirational.

Ten thumbs up for Audacity