When you say sharing files.. are you editing the documents at the same time? Or just saving to a network share for others to access?
In terms of saving to network share directories, OpenOffice.org and StarOffice have no problems. They work the same as any other application in that respect.
For templates etc, keep in mind that any advanced VB macros and scripting will probably be a point of difficulty for you in the current releases. Upcoming releases of both OpenOffice.org and StarOffice will have better VB macro support.
Base can be used to create a dB frontend for any of several databases (eg MySQL).
You can find some documentation on Base here:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Database The OOoAuthors group is in the process of putting together a comprehensive Base manual, but it is not ready yet.
Other documentation resources that might be helpful:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wik ... on/How_Toshttp://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wik ... ser_ManualStarOffice and/or OpenOffice.org can likely do what you need. All components cans read and write to MS Office formats (not Office2007 yet, but that is coming later this year). You can set StarOffice/OpenOffice to default to the ISO standard formats or to MS Office formats.
So... if you have any specific questions, ask away. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here on the forum
