currency format (repeat)

[jaiguevara <jaiguevara bigfoot com>]

I posted this question on the usenet group, but I'm
not sure if that is the correct way to reach this
list. My apologies if this is redundant.

I'm a new Gnumeric user with 1.2.8 on Suse 9.1, KDE
desktop. So far this seems like best spreadsheet for
my needs in the Suse distribution.

But, when I import cells with the format "($1,234.99)"
(quotes excluded) they don't get converted to numbers.
The Format/Cells/Currency menu option doesn't convert
this string to numeric, even though there is a an
option with that exact format. I have checked for
leading and trailing spaces.

In fact, if I type that string into a cell I see the
same problem. What's going on? Do I need a new version?