Regular readers of this blog know that I volunteer as a software tester for the writing program – Plume Creator. If you are a writer you should give it a try. Plume is Open Source and available on all three platforms for free. The 1.0 version of the program is pretty much done as of this writing. There may be a few maintenance releases in the weeks ahead, but basically the features are frozen.

However, Cyril, the program’s creator is working on a second version, a 2.o version that will continue forward with new features. The reason he’s halting work on the 1.0 version is because for the 2.0 version, he’s essentially starting over with a new code base and some bold new ideas for the program. There’s not much to say about the new version yet as we’re working out the specs at this time. But what I can tell you is that Plume Creator is going to be the premier Open Source Writing software for years to come. It will continue to look and act much like it does now but it will also be innovative and helpful to writers of all kinds.

Some of the upcoming features in discussion are: using Mark Down under the hood which will mean the user can export cleanly to HTML or EPUB formats, internal storage of images and notes possibly in a Wiki format, the ability to alter your text from outside of Plume Creator as in from your tablet, and finally, a Screenplay template for writers.

It’s not too late to jump in and help the Plume Creator team develop the kind of writing software that you want to have. So if you’re a programmer, designer or a tester and want to help out, I’m sure Cyril would love to have you join us. Drop him an email and let him know how you can contribute.

If you’ve recently tried out Plume and have some user based experiences with it, please let us know what you liked and what you didn’t like about it.