Updating to OpenOffice 3.0 in Ubuntu 8.10

Unfortunately, even though Intrepid Ibex (Ubuntu 8.10) shipped quite a bit after the release of OpenOffice 3.0, the developers hadn’t quite finished testing Intrepid with the latest version. As a result, Ubuntu 8.10 ships with version 2.4 of the popular, free office suite.

The latest version of OpenOffice adds many new features, including an enhanced user interface, compatibility with Microsoft Office 2007’s XML formats (docx, pptx), and improved speed and reliability all round.

Softpedia outlines the proper way to update your OpenOffice suite. You just have to add the following to your list of software sources: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu intrepid main and then update via the Update Manager:

[How to Install OpenOffice.org 3.0 on Ubuntu 8.10 – Step by step tutorial with screenshots! – Softpedia]

Easter Eggs in MS Word

Apparently, Microsoft Office Word is full of Easter Eggs (an "Easter Egg" is a small, undocumented procedure in a program that normally expresses interesting commentaries or gives credit to the people who labored over the program. Like their namesake, Easter Eggs normally take a while to find and can be quite elusive. )

Perhaps the most famous is the "rand" trick. Open up a new Office Word document and type the following exactly as it appears below, then press enter.

=rand(x, y)

Where 'x' is the number of paragraphs and 'y' is the number of sentences.

In the case of Office Word 2007 enter =rand.old(x, y) to get the same effect.

This will then display the pangram for x paragraphs and y sentences (The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog). A pangram is a sentence that contains all the letter in the alphabet. It's used for displaying fonts, etc.

More pangrams

• =lorem() or =lorem(x, y) -- which will do the same thing but instead for Lorem Ipsum text.
• =rand() or =rand(x, y) (only in Office Word 2007) -- displays some boilerplate text about the insert tab.