There are other like Anyoffice or Caligra Office. Or you can use any web based one...even office365 ;-) If your needs are smaller you can do a lot with just ab

There are other like Anyoffice or Caligra Office. Or you can use any web based one...even office365 ;-) If your needs are smaller you can do a lot with just abiword and gnumeric. They launch instantly. Gnome evolution is much nicer to use than Outlook in my experience.