This might be a proper question for community wiki.

How can various text processor (like Word or Writer) table capabilities be achieved using LaTeX? For example, can I achieve:

* multicolumns and multirows (yes, with `multirow` package)
* [merge cells operation spanning multiple rows and columns](https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/12940/latex-table-capabilities/13026#13026), respecting borders. Illustrated with figure below:

![Row and column spanning](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7vA4A.png)

* equal column distribution (yes, with appropriate column types and manually inputting column widths, or `tabularx` package)
* equal rows distribution (?)
* [changing text direction](https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/12940/latex-table-capabilities/12942#12942) (yes, does not depend on table enviroment?)
* cell/row shading (yes, with `colorx` package)
* [using borders and lines](https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/12940/latex-table-capabilities/13287#13287)
* setting borders of each cell individually (?)
* [aligning cell contents inside a cell](https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/12940/latex-table-capabilities/13283#13283) in all 9 directions (vertical, horizontal and centering)
* etc.