.doc files saved in OpenOffice will open fine in Windows based office programs.
The great beauty of OpenOffice is that it will open .docx files, that is the
default of Office2007.
OpenOffice will also save files in .pdf form.
Frankly, I think it's amazing that we have such a versatile program for free.
Just as a matter of interest if you use Scribus you will need to have data saved
in OpenOffice format to paste the data into Scribus. All .doc files can be saved
in OpenOffice format. Personally if I want an .odt file I just open the .doc
file and resave as an .odt file so I have both versions.