I uninstalled Open Office and installed Libre Office. Tried to open a write (.ODT) document. 
First message:  
"Verifying application requirements.  This may take a few minutes."
Second message:
"Cannot continue.  The application is improperly formatted.  Contact the application vendor for assistance."
If I click details, I get:

PLATFORM VERSION INFO
	Windows 			: 5.1.2600.196608 (Win32NT)
	Common Language Runtime 	: 4.0.30319.1
	System.Deployment.dll 		: 4.0.30319.1 (RTMRel.030319-0100)
	clr.dll 			: 4.0.30319.1 (RTMRel.030319-0100)
	dfdll.dll 			: 4.0.30319.1 (RTMRel.030319-0100)
	dfshim.dll 			: 4.0.31106.0 (Main.031106-0000)

SOURCES
	Deployment url			: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Frank/My%20Documents/'%20Phone%20list.ods

ERROR SUMMARY
	Below is a summary of the errors, details of these errors are listed later in the log.
	* Activation of C:\Documents and Settings\Frank\My Documents\' Phone list.ods resulted in exception. Following failure messages were detected:
		+ Exception reading manifest from file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Frank/My%20Documents/'%20Phone%20list.ods: the manifest may not be valid or the file could not be opened.
		+ Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1.

COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION FAILURE SUMMARY
	No transaction error was detected.

WARNINGS
	There were no warnings during this operation.

OPERATION PROGRESS STATUS
	* [12/11/2011 6:43:13 PM] : Activation of C:\Documents and Settings\Frank\My Documents\' Phone list.ods has started.

ERROR DETAILS
	Following errors were detected during this operation.
	* [12/11/2011 6:43:13 PM] System.Deployment.Application.InvalidDeploymentException (ManifestParse)
		- Exception reading manifest from file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Frank/My%20Documents/'%20Phone%20list.ods: the manifest may not be valid or the file could not be opened.
		- Source: System.Deployment
		- Stack trace:
			at System.Deployment.Application.ManifestReader.FromDocument(String localPath, ManifestType manifestType, Uri sourceUri)
			at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadDeploymentManifestDirectBypass(SubscriptionStore subStore, Uri& sourceUri, TempFile& tempFile, SubscriptionState& subState, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options, ServerInformation& serverInformation)
			at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadDeploymentManifestBypass(SubscriptionStore subStore, Uri& sourceUri, TempFile& tempFile, SubscriptionState& subState, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options)
			at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.PerformDeploymentActivation(Uri activationUri, Boolean isShortcut, String textualSubId, String deploymentProviderUrlFromExtension, BrowserSettings browserSettings, String& errorPageUrl)
			at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.ActivateDeploymentWorker(Object state)
		--- Inner Exception ---
		System.Xml.XmlException
		- Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1.
		- Source: System.Xml
		- Stack trace:
			at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e)
			at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(String res, String arg)
			at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseRootLevelWhitespace()
			at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseDocumentContent()
			at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Read()
			at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.Read()
			at System.Deployment.Application.ManifestValidatingReader.XmlFilteredReader.Read()
			at System.Xml.XmlCharCheckingReader.Read()
			at System.Xml.XsdValidatingReader.Read()
			at System.Deployment.Application.ManifestReader.FromDocument(String localPath, ManifestType manifestType, Uri sourceUri)

COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION DETAILS
	No transaction information is available.


After that error, I noticed the application had not taken ownership of .odt, .ods, etcetera files. 
I changed the file association for .ODT documents to "write.exe" It will still not open .odt documents by double clicking on the document, unless I open it directly from the menu within Libre office.  If I double click, it goes thru a series of  bizarre errors with the first one being "c:\documents does not exist" the rest of the errors are similar except it adds one more path level for each error, till it finally lists the full path of the document and the documents name, but appended each time with "\documents does not exist".