Nothing new in Openoffice crashing on your Linux installation. It does, most of the times :P

But for the users who rely on SCIM (Stanadard Chinese Input Method) for Input in their regional language, Openoffice is completely unusable as of now on Ubuntu. It never takes off from the splash screen that appears. Turns out that Openoffice.org doesn't like the GTK_IM_MODULE set to scim.

There is a work around, though. But not so convenient one. Setting
GTK_IM_MODULE=xim
on terminal before launching the application,

OR

adding as below on /usr/bin/ooffice:

#!/bin/sh
GTK_IM_MODULE=xim
export OOO_EXTRA_ARG=''
/usr/lib/openoffice/program/ooqstart "$@"

worked for me, and I've also been able to use SCIM keymaps.

But I'd like to see SCIM working with Openoffice.org out of box, and Openoffice not crashing much. New comers to Linux gripe about such tweaks and it is a real hindrance for those who advocate Openoffice in the sub-continent (and one of the reasons why I've consciously stopped advocating Openoffice.org).