Xandros?
My one experience of Xandros is the broken install that came on my eeepc901
There was little to no way to install new stuff.
The menu/icon systems sucked.
There was no "normal" desktop mode.
Updates were just broken.
The key map kept switching back and forth between UK and US every few boots.
No, that was a failure. If they want to be anything useful then they need to make sure that what gets sent out on these machines works. Debian, OTOH, is a delight on the 901. And if they're having trouble making desktop linux pay, they may want to ask Shuttleworth for tips. Last I heard Ubuntu was slowly approaching profitability.
@George
Go to the menus in Gnome, choose System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager.
Enter the root password when prompted, select openoffice.org and click OK.
Alternatively, if you're not scared of the command line, just sudo apt-get install openoffice.org
I fail to see how it could be simpler. No searching on the web, no non-standard installers, just the built in software repository (I know, not as snappy a name as "App Store", but it's basicalyl the same thing). Sure it could use some polish, but it's neither complex, arcane nor weird.