mirror of https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash
git-svn-id: svn+ssh://svn.gnucash.org/repo/gnucash/trunk@4253 57a11ea4-9604-0410-9ed3-97b8803252fdzzzoldreleases/1.6
Robert Graham Merkel
25 years ago
parent
7225185885
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<article id="xacc-whats-new">
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<artheader>
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<title>
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What's New?
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</title>
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</artheader>
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<sect1>
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<title>
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What's new in GnuCash 1.5 (soon to be 1.6)?
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</title>
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<para>
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Hello to all our existing GnuCash users! A lot has changed since 1.4.x,
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and we believe that our new version is a major improvement on the old
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version. Virtually every aspect of the program has changed, and
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lots of new capabilities have been added.
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</para>
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<sect2>
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<title>
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New File Format
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</title>
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<para>
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We have switched to an XML-based text file format. GnuCash will read
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your existing 1.4 files without conversion. However, 1.6 will
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always save your files in the new format.</para>
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<para>The new format is much, much more flexible than the old,
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and was required for all the other new features, as well as
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many other features to be added in the future. In addition,
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because it is based on XML, it makes it much easier for
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external tools to manipulate GnuCash files.
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</para>
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<para>
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We have tested the
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new format extensively, but, as always, it pays to keep a
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backup of your old data handy, just in case.
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</para>
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<para>
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As a small example of the improvements made possible by the
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new file format, GnuCash 1.4 uses "floating-point" numbers
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for its internal calculations, just like a calculator.
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Unfortunately, floating-point numbers are (rarely)
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susceptible to rounding errors. Therefore, GnuCash has
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changed to fixed-point number representation stored to
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exactly the accuracy required. Even some expensive
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proprietary "enterprise" accounting
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packages do not support this vital feature.
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</para>
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</sect2>
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<sect2>
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<title>
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New Interface
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</title>
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<para>The interface has been massively revamped to make it
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faster and easier to use.</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>The register has been totally
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revamped. The confusing auto-balancing has been
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reworked, the multi-line modes are much improved -
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making it much easier to handle split transactions,
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and you can now display a report of the transactions
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in a register, making it easy to export or print them.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem><para>The QIF importer's interface is now much
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simpler to use</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>The main window has been totally revamped.
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You now have the choice of displaying the account window
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and one or more reports in a tabbed-notebook style view,
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as multiple top-level windows, or all in the one
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window.</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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The help window is now fully indexed and searchable.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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The financial calculator, available from the "Tools"
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menu, lets you calculate loan repayments and compound
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interest easily.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</sect2>
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<sect2>
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<title>
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Reports
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</title>
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<para>The reporting architecture has changed radically for
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this release - and so reports are now more informative,
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flexible, and attractive than ever before. Some of the
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improvements and new features include:
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</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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The new gtkhtml "widget" is used for report display.
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The new display engine is faster, and produces
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better-looking output.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Reports are now saved from session to session.
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To make this more useful, "rolling reports" with
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date ranges specified using symbolic dates such
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as "today" or "beginning of this year" are now
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available.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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<emphasis>Stylesheets</emphasis> control report
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formatting, allowing you to customize the look
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of your report.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Reports now display useful information when
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multiple currencies are involved.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Virtually every individual report has been
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radically improved, with nicer layout,
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closer correspondence with standard accounting
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procedures, and radically improved flexibility
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and configurability.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Multiple reports can be packed together
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into the one window for convenient display
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of all the financial information you want,
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using the multicolumn view, a special
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"container" report.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Last, but certainly not least, reports can now
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be printed. Yay!
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</sect2>
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<sect2>
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<title>
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Graphs
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</title>
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<para>
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One of our most long-awaited features, GnuCash can now
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display your financial data in attractive bar, pie, and
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scatter plots. This feature is provided through the
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use of the GUPPI plotting tool.
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</para>
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<para>
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We could talk about the graphs all day, but it's probably
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more interesting to show you just how good they look:
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</para>
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<para><emphasis>PICTURES NEEDED!</emphasis></para>
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</sect2>
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<sect2>
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<title>
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The Online World
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</title>
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<para>GnuCash can get price quotes online, with the
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aid of Paul Fenwick's Finance::Quote module.
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Finance::Quote continues to add more price sources,
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allowing more international users to have more
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convenient access to stock prices online.</para>
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<para>A major improvement of the new version is the
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ability to get price quotes from within the program
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itself, without having to run a helper application.
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The ability to update price quotes from the command
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line remains, however.
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</para>
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<para>
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Mozilla not stable enough for you yet? Don't like
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Galeon? Don't have the libraries installed for
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Konqueror? Well, then, wait until you try GnuCash,
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the only web browser that also tracks your finances.
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Seriously, GnuCash can be used to display simple
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web pages using the "Frame URL" report -
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handy for displaying web-based financial
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information, and particularly in combination with
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the multicolumn view.
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</para>
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</sect2>
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<sect2>
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<title>
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A taste of the Future
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</title>
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<para>GnuCash now supports using Postgres as a backend
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data store. While perhaps not so important in a personal
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finance package, as GnuCash is extended to support
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business accounting features database support will
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be needed to handle massive datasets.</para>
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<para>Similarly, an RPC backend exists, which allows you
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to seperate the engine and interface and have them
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running on totally seperate machines. Developments
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using this facility to build independent, specific-function
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clients have already commenced.
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</para>
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<para>Budgeting and scheduled transactions are perhaps
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GnuCash's most requested features. Unfortunately,
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they didn't make it this time around, but developers
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are already working hard towards adding this support,
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to go into the main development verison soon after the
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1.6 release, for inclusion in the next stable version
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(which will probably be 2.0).
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</para>
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<para>Similarly, more sophisticated automatic handling
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of dividend and brokerages for stock tracking began,
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but didn't make the feature cut this time around.
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Expect this to be sorted out in the next major release.
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</para>
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<para>This is just a taste of what's coming in the future.
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However, with GnuCash, <emphasis>you</emphasis> are in
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a position to get what you want. The GnuCash developers
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are easy to contact (see the webpage for more details),
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and love to hear how GnuCash can be improved. If you are
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a programmer, consider contributing to GnuCash development
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and helping to turn GnuCash into the program that you want
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it to be.
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</para>
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</sect2>
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</sect1>
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</article>
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<!-- Local variables: -->
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<!-- sgml-parent-document: "gnucash.sgml" -->
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<!-- End: -->
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