Hi Guys.
I am trying to write a form. The document contains guidelines (legal and technical) and several places for the user to enter the information. I need to prevent the user from modifying the forms text and input fields but I need the form to also take inputs from the user. I would have used a PDF writer but I do not want to pay such high costs. So the only choice is MS Word. The user can use their own MS Word to fill and email the document. However I am going to use OpenOffice which allows me to create documents that can be read by MS Word. But I do not have linux or openoffice yet so I was wondering does anyone know if I can do something similar in it before I go through the trouble of getting all this.

So in short...
1. Any free pdf form creators (write protect and user input)
2. Or can I create forms in openoffice. Preferable one that has a text limit counter (i.e. web forms) and write protect.

Thanks in Advance.

OpenOffice.org has a version for Windows as well. OO.o is quite compatible to Word, but not quite to legal document compatible. AFAIK, .doc doesn't support forms, but I really don't know for sure.

If you can use ASCII formatted text for your forms, you can use diff to check what has been changed, and if there are illegal changes, reject the form.

6 - Your idea of using a PDF form is the way to go. Try Scribus.

BTW: MS Word does do interactive forms, but has the obvious unwanted side effect of requiring the person filling out the form to have MS Word.