Hi Bob,
For this release the software guys decided to include desktop integration in the main body of files (in Fedora land this is the RPMs directory but I guess this is different in Debian). They didn't update the doco though.
So when you install the other programs (writer, calc, etc) desktop should be included. No need to install desktop separately as before.
What I found though is that there is no menu option for the start center. I have to open a blank doc and close with F4 to bring up the start center.
Hope this Helps
Tim