I was a keen user of Claris/Appleworks on my old Mac. I got a G4 with free Appleworks, and it lack many of the features I liked in the old version, and just is full of inconsistencies and peculiarites that I began to entertain suspicions that it was writen by some PC enthusiasts.

I got so frustrated that (forgive me for I have strayed) I bought a copy of Microsoft Office - which while it's vastly over-complicated, is very solid and feature rich. And the Student/Home version at around £100 is a great bargain.