Lotus Symphony is a free office productivity suite that implements the ODF formats. The following steps allow the instalation of Symphony beta4 on Ubuntu 8.04.

1. Download the linux Symphony installer http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.jspa
2. Open a terminal window
3. Disable desktop effects. The beta installer will not run properly with desktop effects turned on. System...Preferences...Appearance...Visual Effects . See http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/desktopeffects
   
4. Switch to root su
5. ./IBM_Lotus_Symphony_linux.bin
6. Click through accepting the license terms
7. Accept the default install location (or change it as desired)
8. Click Install
9. Wait for the installation to complete
10. Uncheck Open Lotus Symphony
11. Click Finish
12. Close the terminal window
13. Re-enable Desktop effects. System...Preferences...Appearance...Visual Effects

Start Symphony using Applications...Office...Symphony