LibreOffice 3.6.0 is on Its Way

The next major release of LibreOffice is definitely on its way. Beta 1 was made available for testers two weeks ago and Beta 2 is ready now. Cor Nouws, a founding member of TDF and LibreOffice developer, today reminded testers that there's only one month left before final release. In fact, he even mentioned an international bug-hunting party.

The first beta arrived little over two weeks ago and the list of fixes since 3.5.4 is too long to count. There were nearly 40 bugfixes applied to Beta 2. However, that's not enough. Nouws said, "there will be an international bug-hunt party organized on July 6 and 7!" To join in, users should download and install the latest 3.6.0 developmental release (Beta 2 at this time), and report the bugs. For those interested, more information can be found on the wiki.

Some of the new features planned for 3.6.0 are:

* Contextual spacing
* Smart Art support
* Ctrl+[ and Ctrl+] will decrease and increase font size
* Word count in status bar (woohoo!)
* New option to specify a custom sheet name prefix in Calc
* Improved CSV file import
* New ODF OpenFormula spreedsheet functions
* New chart goodies
* Support for Japanese postcard paper size
* Improved performance in several key areas

LibreOffice 3.6.0 is due to be released the first week in August. Before that, another beta and three release candidates will be released for testing. As Nouws also said, "it's time for a little excitement."