Daily Archives: Friday, November 2, 2012

  • LibreOffice 3.6.3 now available

    Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Tech

    the LibreOffice logoThe Document Foundation has announced the release of LibreOffice 3.6.3, the latest version of the leading free and open source office suite.

    This maintenance release fixes some 90 bugs, including fixes for layout problems, overflowing margins, a regression in chart complex category placements and problems in importing and exporting ODF documents. Several problems that caused crashes when, for example, deleting the last cell in a table, importing tables from .docx files or following an incomplete print have likewise been corrected.

    Versions of LibreOffice 3.6.3 for Linux, Windows and Mac platforms are available from the LibreOffice download page, as is the source code.

    If anyone readers need convincing to try LibreOffice, do this simple test. How much lighter will getting an office suite leave your bank balance?

    Furthermore, LibreOffice’s functionality can be enhanced by means of extensions, such as MultiSave (posts passim).

  • Outsourcing news: 98 subtitlers resign

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media

    It not just the UK’s Ministry of Justice that’s having trouble with outsourcing (posts passim). Over in Finland Broadcast Text International may now find it hard to fulfil its contracts following the mass resignation of 98 subtitlers.

    Finnish blog Av-kääntäjät reports that the 98 subtitlers resigned after being outsourced to Broadcast Text International by major commercial broadcasting company, MTV Media.

    All told, a total of 110 subtitlers working under freelance contracts for MTV Media were outsourced on 1st October to BTI International, a subsidiary of Broadcast Text International. Under Finnish law, outsourced employees have a right to resign without notice during the first month after the deal and 98 subtitlers have consequently jumped ship, voicing concerns about their being outsourced to a company that pays its current subtitlers minimal wages, forces them to become entrepreneurs instead of employees, claims copyright to all subtitles produced and refuses to engage in collective bargaining.

    Broadcast Text International has not commented so far and has also not responded to the concerns voiced by the subtitlers or responded to invitations from trade unions to open negotiations.

    Hat tip: Richard McCarthy