I haven't used Abiword very much except on an Xubuntu system that I
ran for a bit so I can't comment on its Word compatibility, but I
would not question that you are right. Strangely though, I once had an
Excel spreadsheet full of complicated macros that Open Office Calc
could not manage but which Gnumeric handled quite (not perfectly)
well.

But the measure of a good system is not its MS Office compatibility
but its ability to stand on its own feet and provide the features that
you and I need. As a stand alone word processor, Abiword has few
shortcomings and Gnumeric even fewer as a stand alone spreadsheet.

Having said all that, I am a very happy (and heavy) Open Office user
and have no reasons to change.