topic Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here! in Alfresco Archive

Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

nancyg — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:01:01 GMT

All,Everyone around Alfresco has been hard at work over the past several months on our latest release, Labs 3. We invite you to download it, kick the tires and send us your feedback.You can find a lot of info in the wiki, the starting page is http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Alfresco_Labs_3, a list of

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

jpfi — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:21:55 GMT

Hi Alfresco,
Congratulations!
There were several not very positive post about your movement to a more Collaboration centric approach here in the forum and in the "blogsphere".
I'm sure you know that you haven't completely finished your homework, but it is fantastic what you all have achieved in the last months!
Now, drink a beer…or two and have a nice weekend 😉
Cheers,
jan

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

hvyas — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:05:24 GMT

Does this mean that there won't be a 2.9C release for community?

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

slothrop — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:07:44 GMT

What is the difference between a labs release and a community release? Will there be a version 3 community release?

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

jottley — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:30:22 GMT

We have changed names for our community release. Alfresco Community is now Alfresco Labs.

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

hvyas — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:07:03 GMT

ok….Will there be a version 2.9 Labs release in the near future?

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

jottley — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:14:26 GMT

Labs 3 is that release. In addition to the new Share client, you still have the traditional JSF client available as well.

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

mabayona — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 09:56:07 GMT

After reading and testing Alfresco Labs 3.0, I have a set of questions:

- Are all 2.9x-only features in 3.0? > (quote, multi-tenant, <runas>, …)

- What are 3.0 plans for Advanced Workflow support? (no single mention in 3.0 literature/roadmap/feature list of simple or advanced workflow support)

Any comments from alfresco?

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

jottley — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 14:01:35 GMT

The features that you saw being developed in 2.9 and that you are familliar with in past versions of Alfresco are all still available in the traditional JSF client. Labs 3 introduces a new (separate) UI that we are calling Share. Everything you saw and loved about previous version of Alfresco or saw being developed in 2.9 is still there in Labs 3. Labs 3 represents our efforts to develop an open alternative to Sharepoint, part of which is an additional UI. Thinks of Labs 3 as the introduction of a third product: our traditional JSF client for document management, our web content management tools and finally the Share interface.

Share is part of our work to close the divide between traditional document management and web content management into the divide of social collaboration. There is more and more demand for alternatives to what Sharepoint is offering and this is the start of our answer to that demand.

The top post by NancyG has the links to learn more about what we are offering in Share. Install it. Play with it. Let us know what you think. If you don't like share ( :8180/share ) the traditional UI is still there ( :8080/alfresco ). It is divided into two war files: alfresco.war and share.war. Don't want share, just delete the share.war. Don't like the Share UI? Skin it. Don't like the components, or want additional components? Build them. Or build your own UI using the SURF Platform. Labs 3 is that flexible.

We are really excited about this new offering and what it represents. We hope that you will be too.

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

slothrop — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:57:27 GMT

What is te appropriate forum for posting questions about 3.0 installation, development, etc?

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

mikeh — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:48:19 GMT

What is te appropriate forum for posting questions about 3.0 installation, development, etc?

Hi,

Just use the same forums as before, but please make it clear in either the subject or body that your questions are relating to v3.0.

Thanks,
Mike

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

alexr — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 06:39:51 GMT

All,

Everyone around Alfresco has been hard at work over the past several months on our latest release, Labs 3. We invite you to download it, kick the tires and send us your feedback.

You can find a lot of info in the wiki, the starting page is http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Alfresco_Labs_3, a list of features is at http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Alfresco_Labs_3_Feature_List and the download and install instructions at http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Installing_Labs_3. You can read what John Newton, our co-founder and CTO, has to say on his blog, http://newton.typepad.com/content/2008/07/introducing-alf.html.

Enjoy the new release and stay tuned for more exciting developments!

Nancy

Hi Nancy,

Congratulations to all of you for this achievement. Alfresco Share looks great and promising.
I hope Surf and Share will find a quick adoption in our community.

Regards,

Alex

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

hvyas — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:24:08 GMT

Does Alfresco Labs 3 include all bug fixes from enterprise 2.x branch?
Can Alfresco Labs 3 be considered stable equivalent to enterprise 2.x release?

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

jpfi — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:14:25 GMT

Hi,
it is declared as "Labs Beta", so I'm sure that it isn't as as stable as a 2.x enterprise.
Cheers, Jan

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

zaizi — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:47:33 GMT

"Does Alfresco Labs 3 include all bug fixes from enterprise 2.x branch?"

Yes.

"Can Alfresco Labs 3 be considered stable equivalent to enterprise 2.x release?"

No. This is because in addition to all the bug fixes it has all new bleeding edge functionality included. The bug fixes and patches for this new functionality will be available in enterprise 3.x.

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

hvyas — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:58:16 GMT

So there will not be any stable community release that can be used in production. In other words, community release is only for testing for enterprise release. Is that true?

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

zaizi — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:13:00 GMT

You can find the difference between the Enterprise and Labs Products at http://www.alfresco.com/products/networks/compare/.

The Labs is as stable as it gets when it is released. There will be no patch releases or bug fixes. Bug fixes will however be available in the SVN for you to compile and install.

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

callermd — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:30:08 GMT

Again, I wish to register my disappointment with Alfresco for switching to a release model that intentionally cripples the open source branch by never providing a production ready release. To me at least, this is a transparent attempt to effort to force users to purchase the Enterprise version for anything more than playing around. This was not the release model that Alfresco originally billed itself to follow and the change has left some of us high and dry.

I don't mind waiting for Enterprise functionality to eventually show up in the OS version or even having Enterprise only functionality that never is released into the OS version. However not having a production ready branch of community is a really good way to kill any community participation or interest from even larger enterprises looking to widely deploy Alfresco.

Regretfully,

Martin

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

pmonks — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:41:29 GMT

Martin, it's unfortunate to hear that you're disappointed, but there is method to the madness and it's far more mundane than you're imagining. The simple fact of the matter is that with software development (of any kind - open source or otherwise) innovation and stability work at cross purposes - they are fundamentally conflicting goals - yet both have value to different constituencies within the user base.

Like all software developers (whether they're consciously aware of it or not), Alfresco had to draw the line between innovation and stabilisation somewhere, and as the names imply we elected to make innovation the primary goal of the Labs edition, and stability the primary goal of the Enterprise edition. This was based on the simple observation that Labs users are typically more interested in innovative new features, while Enterprise users are typically more interested in stability.

Are there Labs users who favour stability over innovation? Of course, and we encourage them to consider the Enterprise edition. Are there Enterprise users who favour innovation over stability? Of course, and we encourage them to experiment with the innovative new features included in the Labs edition.

The beauty of this model is that no one is locked into anything - it's simply a matter of choice. Compare that to the traditional software vendor model, where typically users don't get a choice, and often don't even know if they're purchasing innovation or stability or a random sprinkling of both (or neither in some cases! 😉

Cheers,
Peter

Re: Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

nancyg — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:39:20 GMT

I wanted to point out another wiki resource that has some great info on Labs 3 and may answer some questions, it is the Alfresco Labs 3 FAQ, you can find it here http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Alfresco_Labs_3_FAQ