Comment 2 for bug 227326

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Filofel (filofel) wrote : Re: [upstream] [hardy] openoffice switches keyboard layout

This problem is more of a nuisance than it seems at first.
"Use case" and consequence analysis:

After OpenOffice Writer has one auto-corrected once a case of cAPS LOCK, it sticks to reverting the state of the Caps Locks key. This auto-correcting behavior doesn't spontaneously disappears after the user has pressed the Caps Lock key, presumably indicating that the user is back in charge of the Caps Lock key. It seems that the only way to reverse the behavior is actually to recreate the problem (e.g. to type another instance of an inverted caps word at the beginning of a paragraph and have it "autocorrected" the other (right) way).

But there is worse:
The Caps Lock inversion applies to the whole desktop, even if your Keyboard Preferance / Layout option "Separate layout for each window" is set.
So if you had a terminal window opened on the desktop and start typing in it, it will start generating and echoing UPPERCASE commands there too, the behavior of your Caps Lock key / LED being inverted.

And the cherry on the cake:
This behavior persists even after the user has exited from OpenOffice Writer.
That results is an interesting (?) puzzle for the user and/or the support person having to deal with questions like "Why does Ubuntu manage my Caps Lock key the wrong way?" (and "It worked before, how (or why) did I get there?").

(Been there: I just spent a few hours to figuring out that one for my wife!)