Alfresco Labs 3 Beta is Here!

[nancyg]

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

[dozyarmadillo]

and you get the source, I do not see what is the problem here. Try buying some Documentum licenses from EMC…

OK you get the code but at no point is the Labs version ever stable - because it's essentially the beta version. It probably doesn't overstep the mark in regards to Alfresco being Open Source but it seems to me that it goes against the spirit of Open Source.

You're comparing apples to oranges. Documentum is closed source. Try comparing to other Open Source projects. Liferay for example maintains a single stable version and makes the code available to all. If you want support, you can buy it from Liferay (which is what my employer plans to do).

The simplest solution to me seems to be to make the Enterprise version available. It's billed as being Open Source as well but how can it be when you have to pay to get it. Sorry to go on like broken record but I really don't see what the problem is with opening up stable code for all.

Regards

[dhalupa]

I was not trying to discuss marketing and pricing strategy of Alfresco and whether they should give their product for free or not.  It's way out of my league . I was simply trying to point out the fact that, if you buy the product, you will get a complete source code with it. It makes a huge difference for a developer and, after all, it makes Alfresco OpenSource.

[alexander]

… It makes a huge difference for a developer and, after all, it makes Alfresco OpenSource.

Sorry, having source does not make product Open Source. There are many non-open source licenses giving access to code: "Visible Source", MS "Shared Source". It gives advantage to develpers but have nothing to do with open source.

[newmember]

A year ago on this date Aug 8 2007, "KnowledgeTree Open Source STABLE 3.4.2 is now available for download"
The interest here is that KnowledgeTree has a valid claim to be open source, yes they use GPL3 etc.  Additional interest is found in that KnowledgeTree supports a STABLE release program.

For a company to be able to use a product they must have the comfort of at least a stable release of code.
It is difficult for a company to buy into an open source project on its own and you add to it the uncertainty of a non-stable release will make any product unusable. 

I would think that Alfresco persons would derive value from open-source users adding value from product trials in different industries, in different computer environments, adding to forums with experiences, adding comments for improvements, reporting success etc.  If open-source users can not use Alfresco in production I would suggest that valued feed back would not be forth coming and the innovative and contribution value would be significantly reduced.

I hope to see a release date for "Alfresco Open Source ver 3" in the coming weeks as part of a continued STABLE release program.

PS There are many successful Open Source Programs that have made the Open Source investment and have publicly published their success model. e.g. Zimbra sold for approximately $350 million.  Zimbra is like MS Exchange.  Being that Alfresco is playing in the MS Sharepoint space we should see a larger success story in Alfresco's future; given that MS Sharepoint is a huge success for MS and bigger than MS exchange.

[marcus]

I'd like to see Alfresco release the SVN revision numbers of their enterprise releases so that community members CAN build a stable version off the same codebase that the Enterprise version is built from.

[rbelisle]

I would second/third a vote for the release of a STABLE revision of the community or labs edition.

[stk137]

I'd like to see Alfresco release the SVN revision numbers of their enterprise releases so that community members CAN build a stable version off the same codebase that the Enterprise version is built from.

Is the revision number all you need to know to build a specific enterprise version?
Do enterprise customers have access to the necessary branches/tags info in SVN?
If so, can someone just maintain this information publicly somewhere?

[callermd]

Marcus,

Just getting the SVN is not going to solve this problem since at no point is the community SVN functionality ever a strict set or subset of the Enterprise version.  The enterprise patches are periodically checked in, yes, however in the mean time, Alfresco developers check in new, untested, unstable code.  So you will get patches but also all sorts of things breaking.

Someone will need to fork the tree to create a Stable community edition.  Again, this is really frustrating for those of us who were sold on Alfresco under the original premise that the community edition would be stable, not a 'labs' version.  Alfresco should really step up and provide a real, non beta community branch.  I can't see any SMB choosing the community version of Alfresco since it is basically useless to them.  And that is exactly one of the markets that Alfresco is trying to target. 

The most likely candidates for Alfresco 'Labs' are other GPL projects that require document management since they can spend the time to apply patches and maintain their own separate code branches.  Large enterprises will just buy the Enterprise edition and not bother with the community edition.

[rbelisle]

I get the feeling that Alfresco ISN'T really interested in the SMB market and really is gunning for the enterprise. Hence, the lack of a stable community release is not really an issue for them as they don't see anyone who would want to use the community app as a 'real' customer. They make enterprise available on a test or pilot basis for customers who are interested (30 day eval) and bring them on to the enterprise version if they become a paying customer, but their pricing model excludes SMB customers.

Nothing that Alfresco is doing/has done in the last 12 months leads me to believe that there is anything but an Enterprise focus. If you're looking for SMB, you should likely look elsewhere.

I would like to hear from ANYONE at Alfresco to either confirm/refute the enterprise focus as this is really my opinion based on what I have seen.

[hvyas]

Alfresco community is just a marketing game. In reality it is used only for testing/staging for enterprise release.  If you talk to their sells you will get exact idea.