It appears that OOO doesn't have auto-save turned on by default. I just ran into this with my spouse, who is not very tech savy. She has never experienced(until now) the loss of a document do to a tech glitch or other oddities of computers.
I "assumed" that this auto-save feature would be turned on, I would be incorrect... :)
I enjoy letting my better-half poke around with Linux as it gives me a better perspective on what works and more importantly what does not.
Anyway, fair warning to all OOO users, turn on your auto-save now, before it's too late!
Sean Bruno