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
