I've been using OpenOffice technology since StarOffice 4 in an 
multiuser installation. I have never been able to upgrade from one 
version to the next one without problems. 
 
I use a multiuser installation of OpenOffice.org. I had 
OpenOffice.org 1.1rc1 installed and wanted to upgrade to 1.1rc4 
 
1. I started the installation with ./setup -net 
-upgrade:/usr/local/opt/OpenOffice.org which is advised in the 
setup guide. After some screens the installation program asks me 
where to install OpenOffice.org. What to do now? I cancelled the 
installation because I was sure, that the installation program did 
not want to do an update. Why did I cancel the installation? First, 
because the installation program clearly asked for a 
installationdirectory and not for a directory with the old 
installation. Second, the default path in the input box was 
/opt/OpenOffice.org1.1.0 and not my installation directory. And 
third, I did not expect such question at all. 
 
2. I started my second attempt with ./setup -net. Surprisingly the 
installation program asked me, if I wanted to update my 
installation. I went through the upgrade and thought everything is 
fine. But then I asked me: How did the installation program know, 
where the old installation lied? I think it took it from 
/root/.sversionrc. But this is wrong, wrong and dangerous. The 
installation programm has to ask which directory to use for the 
upgrade or use the directory from the -update option. But never 
ever use the .sversionrc. Who has ever stated that the user who 
updates an Openoffice.org installation also used the old one? 
 
3. But the real crap began when I wanted to upgrade my first user. 
The setup guide states, that you only have to start one application 
and the setup programm will update the installation without 
changing the configuration files. But this is a lie. The setup 
programm asked for a installation directory and wanted to start a 
new workstation installation. I am sure, because it wanted to have 
the users personal data typed in. An update does not ask for this. 
To sum it up, I did not manage to do a update of the users 
installation. I did it like the 500 times before: The user got a new 
installation and a new configuration. 
 
 
I have only two users besides me and one can manage to make a 
new configuration each time a new version is released. But think 
about a company: 
 
OpenOffice.org is not qualified for business use. 
 
The solution is: 
 
1. The installation program always has to ask for an upgrade 
directory unless the admin uses the -update option. 
2. An update facility for a workstation installation has to be 
implemented.