> Personally I don't need anything except the word processor.

OpenOffice.org (or LibreOffice) Writer needs Java just for some wizards and for some export formats. Nothing essential.

http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Java_and_OpenOffice.org#OpenOffice.org_Writer

> What did you get the Masters in and what was the title of you thesis?

Let's take that to PM to not risk boring anyone here to death ;-)