Screw Microsoft Word.
Google Drive:
• Is Free
• Runs in modern internet browsers (Linux compatible)
• Has a fully functional word processor (which is perfectly fine for writing college papers)
• Can read word docs (and it can sort of convert them but it can mess up the formatting)
• Saves your work on the cloud. Automatically.
• Works like a drop-box for backing up files.
• Allows sharing of files
• Includes neat collaboration features
• Spreadsheets
The only drawback is it has bugs in Internet Explorer, so... wait why would you be using IE anyway?
I hear there's this thing, called Open Office, haven't tried it yet though.