Important announcement regarding the AVM

[jpotts]

AVM Developers,

I know the future has been uncertain for the AVM for quite some time. When asked, most, if not all, of the Alfresco team would tell you to avoid the AVM if possible based on the fact that it isn't being actively developed. At DevCon, we had no AVM-based sessions and we presented CMIS-based solutions like Web Quick Start, the Drupal integration, Liferay, and partner-developed solutions like Crafter as our going-forward strategy for WCM. But there hasn't been anything official announced, until now. The official company message is now that AVM has a limited life. You can read more in my post, here.

To summarize the post:
* For existing customers, nothing changes for now. You can upgrade to Alfresco 4 and still get support for your AVM solution. However, new customers will not be able to purchase support subscriptions for the AVM.
* If you are a Community user with AVM, you should move to a DM-based solution as soon as you can. By the time Alfresco 5 is released, it is likely that AVM will not be part of the core platform.
* We have removed the AVM zip from the Community download page. (The zip contains the AVM context file and the virtualization server). We did that because we do not want Community users to use the AVM and then expect support if they upgrade to Enterprise. If this is going to be a major headache, let's discuss alternatives.

As I mentioned in the post, there may be passionate AVM users in our community who would like to carry the product forward as a community-managed project, packaged as an add-on to Alfresco. We would be interested in helping that sort of initiative be successful, so please contact me if this is something you want to take on.

You will begin to see disclaimer/notice text added to wiki pages and docs.alfresco.com to make sure that people are aware of the AVM's limited life before doing any new implementations on that repository.

Jeff

[rdanner]

Alfresco v4 is an incredible platform and the move to the core repository unlocks all of that capability and innovation. Crafter Rivet is a platform that made use of all of the functionality in the AVM.  And with our new release, we made the move.  You can as well.  More importantly, if you are using the AVM with Alfresco v3 (or even V2), then Crafter Rivet is the perfect solution for your upgrade.  We can provide parity for most needs with a much better user experience that goes way beyond basic Web CMS needs with the coverage of WEM use cases like integrated analytics and reporting, native mobile application authoring, preview, and presentation, content targeting and personalization, multi-channel publishing and much more.  If you’re new customer to Alfresco looking for Web CMS solutions, Crafter Rivet is a comprehensive WCM/WEM solution, with features that rival some of the major players in the industry.

Learn more here:
http://blogs.rivetlogic.com/rdanner/2012/04/09/web-cmswem-on-the-alfresco-core-repository-through-cr...
http://blogs.rivetlogic.com/rdanner/2012/04/10/web-cms-on-the-alfresco-core-repository-part-2-of-2/

For documentation and downloads:
http://wiki.rivetlogic.com/display/Crafter/Crafter+Rivet+2.x

[rdanner]

Last week was a busy week for those of us working on Crafter Rivet, the WEM/WCM extension for Alfresco 4.0.  We’re extremely excited about this release and are busy scheduling events and demos as word is starting to get out!

You can download Crafter Rivet here:
* Mac OSX Installer
  http://downloads.rivetlogic.com/crafterrivet/community/2-0-0/crafterrivet-2-0-0-CE-osx-x86-nojdk-ins...

* Windows Installer
  http://downloads.rivetlogic.com/crafterrivet/community/2-0-0/crafterrivet-2-0-0-CE-windows-installer...

If you missed our Webinar last week that was co-hosted with Alfresco you can check it out here:
http://www2.alfresco.com/Crafter0412

For existing Alfresco WCM customers on Alfresco version 2 and 3 using the AVM based solution, we’ve put together a couple of blogs to help you think about your migration to Alfresco 4 and the core repository:
* Web CMS on The Alfresco Core Repository (Part 1 of 2)
http://blogs.rivetlogic.com/rdanner/2012/04/09/web-cmswem-on-the-alfresco-core-repository-through-cr...

* Web CMS on The Alfresco Core Repository (Part 2 of 2)
http://blogs.rivetlogic.com/rdanner/2012/04/10/web-cms-on-the-alfresco-core-repository-part-2-of-2/

For everyone who wants to learn more about this exciting and powerful open source solution for web content and experience management that sits on top of Alfresco, the world’s most open and powerful content management platform, we’re hosting a Crafter Rivet Roadshow in a city near you in May!  Come on out for content packed presentations, demonstrations, Q & A and free lunch!

Sign-up for the Crafter Rivet Roadshow here!
http://rivetlogic.com/crafterroadshow/signup.html

Crafter Roadshow Dates:

San Francisco
Tues. May 8

Los Angeles
Wed. May 9

Chicago
Tues. May 15

New York
Wed. May 16

Boston
Thur. May 17

Washington DC
Tues. May 22