How to safely update open office to 2.0+?

[vodhner at cox.net]

---- KevinO <kevin at kevino.org> wrote: 
Here is all that was required (in a nutshell)
# urpme openoffice   (as root, remove all packages)
Grab the latest open office from openoffice.org and install it according to the
directions. (You can stick the new OO directory in /usr/local or /opt)
Place symbolic links in /usr/local/bin pointing to the executables in the new OO
directory.

VO:  EEK!  That's ugly.  This is the kind of  "all ya gotta do is..."  that makes Linux a strictly-for-geeks proposition.  I've been hacking unix / linux for almost 20 years but it still sounds ugly to me.

I simply followed point and click procedures on Windows and upgraded to the new OOo.  Worked fine.  Same with the Gimp, for example.

Can't testify re Linux, because my move to OOo 2.0 came along with installation of a totally new Ubuntu instance.  I never had any elaborate preferences or anything set up in OOo so there was no question of "safe", nothing to lose in installing a new version.  So part of my "problem" is that I can't see the problem about "how to safely update".

Vic