Open Source CMS: November 2010

Friday, November 19, 2010

OpenCms 7.5.1 release notes

This is the release of OpenCms 7.5.1. With OpenCms 7.5.1, some additional features have been added to the core system. Moreover, a number of issues have been fixed, including some reported security problems that affected the OpenCms Workplace.

Added context menu entry "Publish scheduled" to publish files at a specified dateAdded context menu entry "Comment content" to view and change the default properties of all files in a folderAdded improved search dialog and delete resource option to all galleriesAdded selectable start galleries to user preferences and possibility to set start galleries in Workplace configurationAdded option to export the VFS into a folder structure instead of a .ZIP fileAdded option to hide "Advanced" button of property dialog depending on the current users groupsAdded support for servlet container Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1 and v3.0 (preview release)Added content tool "Property viewer" to view properties from resources in specified folderAdded content tool "Language node copier" to copy language nodes in XML contents in specified folderAdded content tool "Convert XML contents" to convert XML contents in specified folderAdded feature #1636: SMPT ports are now configurableAdded feature #1741: Out of the box support for JBOSS servlet containerImproved HTML widget button configuration and unstructured content button configuration optionsAdded option to set global default widget configurationsAdded option to limit full text search to certain resource types onlyAdded detection of email addresses in editor link dialogUpdated FCKeditor to version 2.6.5Updated Lucene to version 2.4.1Added fields query option to full text search by which you can search for different terms in several fieldsAdded backup re-indexing option to Lucene index generationAdded option to use the current site macro in the template one form moduleSwitched icons from ascending/descending order in listsFull text search in documents: exceptions are now catched while extracting the text from documentsImproved detection of the context-root path (support for GlassFish)Fixed issue #1708: User creation settings 'enabled' and 'selfManaged' were not savedFixed issue #1711: HtmlDecorator problem with html-entitiesFixed issue #1734: normalizePath will now remove leading double slashes of the pathFixed issue #1735: Resolved problems with CmsLinkManager and absolute internal linksFixed issue #1739: Deleted or moved project resources cannot be removed from projectFixed issue #1740: Synchronization of empty folders with real file systemFixed issue #1743: Cached users for groups are not invalidated when writing userFixed issue #1744: Concurrency issue of CmsImportExportManager resolvedFixed issue #1759: Fixed XSS security issues reported by Security Focus (Bugtraq ID 35979)Fixed issue #1775: Endless loop on project namesFixed issue #1779: Resolved problem with import of additional CSS stylesheet for template twoFixed issue with OU users being unable to work after OU resource has been renamedFixed issue with pointer targets stored in XML contents (instead of the URI to pointers) when selecting them in a link galleryFixed issue with transfer permissions of a deleted user to another userFixed issue with consumed exception messages for email sendingFixed issue with noAutoCloseTags attribute of tag only supporting DIV

We recommend everyone who uses OpenCms to update to the 7.5.1 release.

OpenCms 7.5.1 is fully backward compatible to 7.5.0 and all prior 7.0.x versions. Most templates and other OpenCms developed code from version 7 or 7.5 should work "out of the box" with version 7.5.1.

OpenCms 7.5 has been written and tested using Java 1.5 / 1.6. We have tested only with SUNs version of the JDK. However, OpenCms has no dependencies to sun.* packages so it should in theory run with all compliant JVMs.

We have tested this release on the Tomcat servlet engine. OpenCms works "out of the box" with Tomcat 5.5, which we recommend. Others have reported deploying OpenCms successfully on other servlet containers like JBoss, BEA, Websphere, Glassfish and Resin Professional. We appreciate any feedback regarding other servlet containers.

On the database side, we have tested with MySQL 4.0.x, MySQL 4.1, MySQL 5.x, Oracle 9.x and Oracle 10.x, as well as PostgreSQL 8.2.x and 7.4.x, MS SQL Server 2000 / 2003, DB2 9.1 and HSQLDB 1.8.0. The automatic update wizard for OpenCms 7 supports MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL.

In case you want to check out OpenCms from the CVS, please keep the following in mind: The CVS tag numbers for all OpenCms 7.5 final releases are "build_7_5_x", so the 7.5.1 release is tagged "build_7_5_1". Development of maintenance releases is currently done in CVS HEAD.

Contributions to the OpenCms core development are most welcome. Please contact the core development team on the opencms-dev mailing list in case you are interested in supporting the development of OpenCms.

Please use our Bugzilla to report bugs in this release: http://bugzilla.opencms.org/

Thank you for using OpenCms and have fun with OpenCms 7.5 :-)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

OpenCms 7.5.2 available

Version 7.5.2 of OpenCms is now available for download.

OpenCms is one of the most popular Open Source Content Management Solutions. This new version was developed by Alkacon Software GmbH with the support of the international OpenCms developer community.

OpenCms 7.5.2 is a maintenance release that fixes a number of issues that persisted in the 7.5.1 version, including some OpenCms Workplace compatibility issues with newer browser versions.

Fixed issue #1542: Links to exported files containing anchors are not resolved correctlyFixed issue #1787: Error when browsing the next result pages in the OpenCms backend searchFixed issue #1800: Still not released resources are indexedFixed issue #1802: CmsShell does not work in Linux with Tomcat 6Fixed issue #1807: CmsImportVersion7 contains a counter error in INFO log levelFixed issue #1808: OpenCms.getLinkManager().getOnlineLink(CmsObject, link) does not workFixed issue #1809: Left site tree view is shown duplicated when creating a new folder in any siteFixed issue #1815: Aborted publish job goes on before resources are finally initialized when OpenCms restartsFixed issue #1817: Fail to load Download/HTML/Link/Table Gallery from HTMLWidget on Websphere 6.1Fixed issue #1819: FCKeditor does not work with newer Firefox versionsFixed issue with cached CmsResource lists are not cleared after publishing a projectFixed incorrect Lucene search result scoreFixed list search filter caching problem in OpenCms Administration viewFixed access to indirect group usersFixed double explorer action executionFixed issue with JSP repository not being purged automatically after module importAdded additional MIME typesUpdated EditArea syntax highlighting editor to version 0.8.2Updated Apache Commons Pool to version 1.5.4

Please check out the release notes for further details of the changes in this release.

"Direct Edit" allows editing of content directly from a web page.Structured contents can be defined using a simple XML schema.XML content Editor for structured content / pages generated automatically from an XML schema.Support for grouping of content in tabs in the XML content editor.Includes editor with syntax highlighting functionality for all text based files (e.g. XML, HTML, JSP)WYSIWYG editor available for unstructured pages.Easy to use "Online / Offline" workflow.All changes or new pages must be approved / published first before they become visible "Online".Our "Content Relationship Engine" (CRE) allows management of relations / links in the system.Full internal link management for all resources.If files (or folders) are moved, all links to these files are kept intact.Native support for WebDAV access to the OpenCms VFS.Integrated image processing / scaling and cropping.Image and other content is organized in galleries with advanced AJAX features.Gallery dialogs support grouping of content by category or based on folder.Integrated full text search for web pages, but also in PDF, MS Office documents etc.Offline search indexing for changes that are not published.Full featured internal user management that supports the concept of "Organizational Units" (OUs).It is possible to delegate management of users / groups in OUs to Sub-Administrators.User permissions based on a complete set of system "Roles".Extensions can be added through a full featured module system.A "time warp" feature in the Workplace allows users to view resources with date expired / date released settings.JSP integration allows standards based creation of dynamic functionality in templates, dynamic forms etc.Support for Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL Server, DB2, AS400 and HSQLDB databases included.Distribution includes a complete demo website "Wonderful World of Flowers".... and many more

OpenCms 7.5.2 is fully backward compatible to all prior 7 versions. We recommend everyone who uses an earlier version of OpenCms to update to the 7.5.2 release. OpenCms 7.5 is largely backward compatible with version 6. An easy to use update wizard for OpenCms Version 6 and prior 7 installations for MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL is available.

Independent research has shown OpenCms to be a market leading solution amongst Open Source CMS systems. The software has been in continuous development for the last 9 years and has an active community of Open Source developers.

More than 100 international IT companies have been registered as official OpenCms Solution Provider on the OpenCms website. A steadily growing list of reference sites also shows the increasing use of OpenCms.

OpenCms is an enterprise - ready web content management solution build in Java and XML from open source components. OpenCms can easily be deployed on almost any existing IT infrastructure and provides powerful features especially suited for medium and large enterprise internet or intranet applications. OpenCms is open source software distributed under the LGPL licence.

Alkacon Software GmbH is the company responsible for the development of OpenCms. Today OpenCms is a leading open source CMS solution in widespread use all over the world. Many businesses and organizations use OpenCms as a cost effective, professional alternative to expensive license products.

Alkacon Software GmbH offers its customers training, support and add-on products for OpenCms. This gives our customers a layer of security and convenience often required for mission critical OpenCms installations. Please see the Alkacon product overview for more details.

The team at Alkacon Software - The OpenCms Experts wants to thank everyone who has contributed to this release of OpenCms.

OpenCms 7.5.3 ready for download

Version 7.5.3 of OpenCms is now ready and available for download.

OpenCms is one of the most popular Open Source Content Management Solutions. This new version was developed by Alkacon Software GmbH with the support of the international OpenCms developer community.

With OpenCms 7.5.3, a number of issues that persisted in the 7.5.2 release have been fixed. Some new features have been added as well.

Fixed issue #1872: Anchor of URL being encoded incorrectlyFixed issue #1886: Error when displaying historic version after a resource has been movedFixed issue #1889: Keep browser based authentication text when rewriting the opencms-system.xmlFixed issue #1890: History version functionality also works for files with expired date nowFixed issue with broken dialog when trying to edit a group that is part of an organizational unitFixed issue with displaying HTML in the "Title" and "NavText" column of explorer viewNew workplace content tool to update the structure of XML contents without changing the modification dateThe workplace content tool "Change Property Values" now allows to use wildcards in the old and new valueRemoved validations for XML content element actions: add, remove, move up, move downImproved user driver, during user login only the last login date is written to databaseUpdated Apache Commons Email auf Version 1.2

Please check out the release notes for further details of the changes in this release.

OpenCms 7.5.3 is fully backward compatible to all prior 7 versions. We recommend everyone who uses an earlier version of OpenCms to update to the 7.5.3 release. OpenCms 7.5 is largely backward compatible with version 6. An easy to use update wizard for OpenCms Version 6 and prior 7 installations for MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL is available.

Notice for users of Alkacon OCEE: OpenCms version 7.5.3 requires Alkacon OCEE version 2.1.3 or later. In case you want to update your OpenCms installation to 7.5.3, please make sure you update Alkacon OCEE to 2.1.3 or later first!

The team at Alkacon Software - The OpenCms Experts wants to thank everyone who has contributed to this release of OpenCms.

OpenCms 7.5.2 release notes

This is the release of OpenCms 7.5.2. OpenCms 7.5.2 is a maintenance release that fixes a number of issues that persisted in the 7.5.1 version, including some OpenCms Workplace compatibility issues with newer browser versions.

Support for image cropping in image galleryNew galleries with advanced AJAX features available in structured content and free page editorGalleries dialog now also support grouping of elements by categorySupport for tabs in the XML content editorOffline search indexing without publishing in the Lucene based full text searchNew demo content "Wonderful World of Flowers"Fixed issue #1542: Links to exported files containing anchors are not resolved correctlyFixed issue #1782: Publish dialog in Project overview list hangsFixed issue #1787: Error when browsing the next result pages in the OpenCms backend searchFixed issue #1791: Template Two content external link check fails for two resourcesFixed issue #1800: Still not released resources are indexedFixed issue #1803: Template Two Demo Article links with target="_blank"Fixed issue #1802: CmsShell does not work in Linux with Tomcat 6Fixed issue #1807: CmsImportVersion7 contains a counter error in INFO log levelFixed issue #1808: OpenCms.getLinkManager().getOnlineLink(CmsObject, link) does not workFixed issue #1809: Left site tree view is shown duplicated when creating a new folder in any siteFixed issue #1815: Aborted publish job goes on before resources are finally initialized when OpenCms restartsFixed issue #1817: Fail to load Download/HTML/Link/Table Gallery from HTMLWidget on Websphere 6.1Fixed issue #1819: FCKeditor does not work with newer Firefox versionsFixed issue with cached CmsResource lists are not cleared after publishing a projectFixed issue that if an error occured while changing the user password in the preferences, it was not possible to close the error messageFixed incorrect Lucene search result scoreFixed list search filter caching problem in OpenCms Administration viewFixed 'go up' button in Account management viewFixed access to indirect group usersFixed double explorer action executionFixed not working resource type "xmlpage" in extended mode in WebDAVFixed issue with selected versions in the resource historyFixed issue that error occured when changing field structure in XSD from simple data type to optional nested contentFixed issue with wrong roles for indirect group users when updating OpenCms from version 6 to version 7Fixed issue with JSP repository not being purged automatically after module importAdded additional MIME typesUpdated EditArea syntax highlighting editor to version 0.8.2Updated Apache Commons Pool to version 1.5.4

We recommend everyone who uses OpenCms to update to the 7.5.2 release.

OpenCms 7.5.2 is fully backward compatible to all prior 7.5.x and 7.0.x versions. Templates and other OpenCms developed code from version 7.0 or 7.5 should work "out of the box" with version 7.5.2.

We have tested this release on the Tomcat servlet engine. OpenCms works "out of the box" with Tomcat 6.0, which we recommend. Others have reported deploying OpenCms successfully on other servlet containers like JBoss, BEA, Websphere, Glassfish and Resin Professional. We appreciate any feedback regarding other servlet containers.

In case you want to check out OpenCms from the CVS, please keep the following in mind: The CVS tag numbers for all OpenCms 7.5 final releases are "build_7_5_x", so the 7.5.2 release is tagged "build_7_5_2". Development of maintenance releases is currently done in CVS HEAD.

Please use our Bugzilla to report bugs in this release: http://bugzilla.opencms.org/

Thank you for using OpenCms and have fun with OpenCms 7.5 :-)

OpenCms 7.5.3 release notes

This is the release of OpenCms 7.5.3. With OpenCms 7.5.3, a number of issues that persisted in the 7.5.2 release have been fixed. Some new features have been added as well.

Support for image cropping in image galleryNew galleries with advanced AJAX features available in structured content and free page editorGalleries dialog now also support grouping of elements by categorySupport for tabs in the XML content editorOffline search indexing without publishing in the Lucene based full text searchNew demo content "Wonderful World of Flowers"External Links (pointers) now support handling of request parametersNew workplace content tool to update the structure of XML contents without changing the modification dateNew XML content element type "CmsXmlPlainTextStringValue" that removes HTML code for the search resultsThe workplace content tool "Change Property Values" now allows to use wildcards in the old and new valueIn the workplace content tool "Change Property Values" if "Include all subfolders" is checked, also the properties of the folder itself are changedAdded new CmsShell command to import resources with a third parameter to control if permissions should be keptImproved localized text for undo changes dialogA new created search index in the workplace is now checked for invalid characters in the index nameRemoved validations for XML content element actions: add, remove, move up, move downRenamed context menu entry "Comment content" in "Edit metadata"It is now possible to "Undo changes" after changing the availability of a resourceImproved user driver, additional infos are now stored in the database in a more efficient wayImproved user driver, during user login only the last login date is written to databaseUpdated Apache Commons Email to version 1.2Fixed issue #1870: JS calendar generated by DateTimeWidget does not show up if lithuanian (lt) locale is selected in workplaceFixed issue #1872: Anchor of URL being encoded incorrectlyFixed issue #1886: Error when displaying historic version after a resource has been movedFixed issue #1889: Keep browser based authentication text when rewriting the opencms-system.xmlFixed issue #1890: History version functionality also works for files with expired date nowFixed issue #1891: Bug in Flex Cache: Cache-Directive "ports" works with list of ports like ports=(8080,8081)Fixed issue with broken dialog when trying to edit a group that is part of an organizational unitFixed issue with displaying HTML in the "Title" and "NavText" column of explorer viewFixed issue with the locale calculation in the publish scheduled procedureFixed issue with malformed encoding in workplace property files

We recommend everyone who uses OpenCms to update to the 7.5.3 release.

OpenCms 7.5.3 is fully backward compatible to all prior 7.5.x and 7.0.x versions. Templates and other OpenCms developed code from version 7.0 or 7.5 should work "out of the box" with version 7.5.3.

In case you want to check out OpenCms from the CVS, please keep the following in mind: The CVS tag numbers for all OpenCms 7.5 final releases are "build_7_5_x", so the 7.5.3 release is tagged "build_7_5_3". Development of maintenance releases is currently done in CVS HEAD.

Please use our Bugzilla to report bugs in this release: http://bugzilla.opencms.org/

Thank you for using OpenCms and have fun with OpenCms 7.5 :-)

Update of Alkacon OCEE for OpenCms released

Alkacon OpenCms Enterprise Extensions / OCEE

Alkacon OCEE for OpenCms is a commercial extension for OpenCms that offers Support for LDAP, Clustering, Replication and improved performance. Full information about OCEE is available on the Alkacon website.

The latest OCEE release version 2.1.2 is a maintenance update that fixes a number of issues that persisted in the last release.

The most important new features in OCEE 2 are:

Support for multi-staging scenarios with the OCEE Replicator: You can configure a "development" server that first pushes all generated content to a "staging" server e.g. for approval, and then afterwards to the "delivery" server. This is freely configurable, and there is no limit on the number of stages.Centralized configuration of servers with the OCEE Cluster: You can now edit the scheduled jobs, search index configuration and module parameters for all individual servers in the cluster from a common GUI in the workplace server.Support for OpenCms OUs in the LDAP Connector: It is now possible to connect each OpenCms OU with an individual path in the LDAP Server.Improved performance with the OCEE Accelerator: A much improved cache policy in the Accelerator now selectively flushes only certain cached items after a publish instead of just flushing everything.

This OCEE release has the following version numbers:

OCEE 2.1.2 for OpenCms 7.5 and 7.0 - OCEE 1.0.18 for OpenCms 6.x

Please see the OCEE release notes for a full descriptions about the new features and changes in this version.

OpenCms 7.5.1 released

Version 7.5.1 of OpenCms is now available for download.

OpenCms is one of the most popular Open Source Content Management Solutions. This new version was developed by Alkacon Software GmbH with the support of the international OpenCms developer community.

OpenCms 7.5.1 adds several new features to the core system. Moreover, a number of issues have been fixed, including some reported security problems that affected only the OpenCms Workplace.

Fixed issue #1759: XSS security issues reported by Security Focus (Bugtraq ID 35979)Added context menu entry "Publish scheduled" to publish files at a specified date.Added context menu entry "Comment content" to view and change the default properties of all files in a folder.Added improved search dialog and delete resource option to all galleries.Added selectable start galleries to user preferences and possibility to set start galleries in Workplace configuration.Added option to export the VFS into a folder structure instead of a .ZIP file.Added option to hide "Advanced" button of property dialog depending on the current users groups.OpenCms now works with servlet container Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1 and v3.0 (preview release).Added content tool "Property viewer" to view properties from resources in specified folder.Added content tool "Language node copier" to copy language nodes in XML contents in specified folder.Added content tool "Convert XML contents" to convert XML contents in specified folder.Added feature #1636: SMPT ports are now configurable.Added feature #1741: Out of the box support for JBOSS servlet container.Improved HTML widget button configuration and unstructured content button configuration options.Added option to set global default widget configurations.Added option to limit full text search to certain resource types only.Added detection of email addresses in editor link dialog.Updated FCKeditor to version 2.6.5.Updated Lucene to version 2.4.1.

Please check out the release notes for further details of the changes in this release.

OpenCms 7.5.1 is fully backward compatible to all prior 7 versions. We recommend everyone who uses an earlier version of OpenCms to update to the 7.5.1 release. OpenCms 7.5 is largely backward compatible with version 6. An easy to use update wizard for OpenCms Version 6 and prior 7 installations for MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL is available.

Independent research has shown OpenCms to be a market leading solution amongst Open Source CMS systems. The software has been in continuous development for the last 8 years and has an active community of Open Source developers.

The team at Alkacon Software - The OpenCms Experts wants to thank everyone who has contributed to this release of OpenCms.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The Squiz Suite Released – The World's First Supported Open Source Web Experience Management Suite

Squiz today announced the release of the Squiz Suite, the world's first supported open source web experience management suite. The Suite expands on traditional content management tools to better assist organisations to create and manage engaging online experiences.

Managing an organisation's web presence is now about much more than simply publishing pages on a website. Marketing teams and web editors need to be able to optimise their websites for usability, conversions and SEO; integrate with a myriad of external systems and web services; create multi-lingual and device specific websites; and effectively engage with their users and clients.

John Paul Syriatowicz, Managing Director of Squiz commented, "We know the challenges our customers face over the coming years go well beyond managing web content. They need to engage prospects, customers and employees using increasingly sophisticated websites, intranets and online applications. The new functionality in Squiz Suite will provide our customers with a globally supported web experience management platform, enabling them to create, manage and optimise their web presence."

The Squiz Suite is comprised of the following four components:

Squiz Matrix - the latest release of the popular MySource Matrix enterprise content management system used by over 1,000 organisations globally. It delivers highly flexible and robust business integration and application development tools. Squiz CMS - a highly usable interface for editing and publishing content within Squiz Suite. It features true inline editing, context sensitive help and powerful collaboration features. Squiz Analytics - innovative and powerful tools to help optimise site content, set goals and test the results using fully integrated and simple to use A/B split testing. Squiz Analytics integrates with Google Analytics allowing you to leverage the functionality you already value. Squiz Search - utilises Funnelback search engine technology, developed by Australia’s CSIRO, to deliver high quality search results and contextual navigation.

Each element is available for free download and the entire Suite is underpinned by a global, 24/7 support framework and an automatic update service.

For more information, and to download the Squiz Suite, visit http://www.squizsuite.net/

Friday, November 12, 2010

Will customers demand open clouds

The old computing vision of client and server is being replaced by one of device and cloud.

(The picture is a greatly-reduced image from Smoothspan, which wrote about cloud keiretsu back in 2008.)

It is easy to tell if a device is open or closed. If you don’t know right away the media will tell you. The iPhone is closed. The Android is open. We can debate how open and how closed all day. That’s what journalists do.

But clouds? Right now the only really active business cloud is Amazon’s. You can make it pretty open. You can install Linux on it.

The idea of the cloud, however, was to make questions about open and closed irrelevant through virtualization. When it comes to the cloud, open includes the power to run closed.

IBM is big into clouds, more as a mainframe replacement than a service, and while its clouds grok open source, they still make a choice. They run Red Hat’s version of KVM virtualization. Dave Rosenberg says they will also support VMWare, but it’s clear that they align with Red Hat.

But is that all that matters? Matt Asay says whether your sync is open matters more than your cloud’s virtualization scheme. Cloud support for open sync systems like Funambol is what counts to him.

You start to see the problem. How can we demand an open cloud if we don’t know what open means? That’s why Microsoft can claim its cloud is open. Because it’s interoperable with open source. Microsoft has always defined open in terms of interoperability.

We have come a long way from last year’s debate over an Open Cloud Manifesto. We have come a long way in terms of the market. We have traveled less distance in terms of the debate.

Until open source advocates agree on what open means in terms of the cloud, clouds will evolve in ways that give lip service to open as an ideal, but still enforce vendor lock-in.

So what makes a cloud open to you?

Thursday, November 11, 2010

If the desktop is dying, mobile sync is king

commentary

Google has proclaimed that the conventional PC will become "irrelevant" within the next three years, and it insists that it puts mobile first in development.

That's a bold statement indicating just how much Google is betting on the mobile Web. But it's also an indication of just how critical synchronization technology is going to become--especially syncing to an open Web.

Traditionally, sync has been that thing you do between your desktop and your one mobile device to ensure that calendars, address books, and even browser bookmarks are current between the two islands of computing. But in a mobile Web world 1 billion devices strong, as IDC predicts for 2010, it's certain that sync will no longer be constrained to one-to-one relationships, but rather will explode into a many-to-many syncfest.

And it will be all about mobile, all of the time.

Already, my family is converging our music libraries into a metalibrary from which we individually sync our preferred tunes on our various smartphones and laptops, while I sync bookmarks and address books across five different devices (three laptops, two phones/music players).

As perhaps implied by my example, we're not going to see the desktop die, as Google pontificates, but rather become more mobile (laptops become Netbooks become smartbooks become...?) and much more connected through sync technologies such as Funambol and Mozilla's wonderful Weave technology.

Mobile is additive, not destructive, to the traditional computing landscape, as even Google's search traffic experience shows.

Syncing is critical to making the mobile revolution work. And the nebulous cloud will become the anchor point for our mobile data, with the nodes (Android, iPhones, laptops, etc.) in a constant state of flux.

For this reason, open-source advocates and others who worry about freedom should give at least equal weight to open clouds, not fixating exclusively on open mobile devices. Hence, while I'm ecstatic to see open-source pioneer Tim Bray join Google's Android team, I'm unconvinced by his apparent argument that the device trumps all when it comes to freedom:

The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet's future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It's a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers.
The people who create the apps serve at the landlord's pleasure and fear his anger...The big thing about the Web isn't the technology; it's that it's the first-ever platform without a vendor...From that follows almost everything that matters, and it matters a lot now, to a huge number of people. It's the only kind of platform I want to help build.

An open node is a good start, but the problem is that the Web, as Bray envisions it, isn't truly a platform without a vendor. Not anymore. Google, Microsoft, and others are battling to own the Web and the data that resides within it.

For that reason, it's the cloud--that central repository for our data to which all the nodes sync--that matters, and if that cloud is closed, or simply hard to extract data from that cloud, it really doesn't matter how wide Google opens the access points. Google has been making strides toward opening the cloud, but it still has a long way to go. We all do.

It's this desire for open clouds and open syncing to those clouds that is blessing Funambol's open-source mobile sync business. It's the same desire that will likely create a host of new competitors in this fertile mobile-sync market.

Funambol v8.5 Syncs Mobile Pictures with the Open Cloud

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 3, 2010 -- Billions of mobile phones and devices can now automatically sync pictures with the Web thanks to Funambol, the open source mobile cloud company. The company today announced the general availability of Funambol v8.5, which adds syncing of pictures and rich media between mobile devices and the open cloud. Once synced, pictures and mobile data can be viewed online, synced with connected devices and shared with social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Funambol's software is currently used by mobile operators, service providers and internet companies to 'cloud sync' mobile data, including address books, calendars and email. v8.5 has been enhanced considerably to sync rich media and adds new clients for Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Mac OS, and automatic client software update. In contrast to other cloud sync solutions, Funambol's open source platform can sync any device, with any platform, on any network. For mobile operators, Funambol provides the means to re-establish customer relationships now being lost to device manufacturers and online platforms.

"Getting pictures off mobile phones has been tedious but that changes completely with Funambol v8.5", said Fabrizio Capobianco, Funambol CEO. "You don't even have to try - it can happen automatically and once your pictures are in the cloud, you are free to share them with friends and social networks, as well as access them via other devices. They are also backed up so that if the phone is lost, your pictures aren't. It's a perfect proposition for consumers and gives mobile operators and service providers an incredibly valuable photo capability which helps them monetize users and makes their services stickier."

Funambol v8.5 addresses key issues in the mobile industry. Mobile users increasingly expect to access rich media everywhere - on handsets, PCs and social sites. With so much valuable information on handsets, it's important to provide simple sync. The mobile cloud provides the answer to these issues and a means to share data with any internet-ready device. Additionally, the rapidly changing mobile industry is ideally suited to the innovation and pace of development in Funambol's open source model.

For providers of mobile services such as telecom operators, device manufacturers and internet companies, Funambol provides a white-label solution that syncs the broadest array of mobile data, rich media and devices. Anyone can try the software for free on the myFUNAMBOL demo portal at http://my.funambol.com for 90 days, or people can use it with Funambol's commercial customers. Funambol v8.5 open source can be downloaded at https://www.forge.funambol.org/download/#server.

Funambol is the open source mobile cloud company that provides sync and push messaging for billions of devices. Funambol open source has been downloaded over four million times by 50,000 developers in 200 countries, making it the #1 mobile open source project. The commercial version of Funambol has been deployed by top device manufacturers, mobile operators, internet companies, service providers and ISVs. Funambol is headquartered in Silicon Valley with R&D in Europe. For more information, please visit http://www.funambol.com. You can also follow Funambol on Twitter at http://twitter.com/funambol.

Matt Humphries or Katharine Simon at Babel PR
+44 (0)20 434 5550
funambol@babelpr.com

Funambol is a trademark of Funambol, Inc. Other company and product names may be the trademarks of their respective companies.

The Frontline: Mobile sync technology set for massive rise

Mobile cloud sync provider Funambol has been in London this week predicting big growth in the space, driven by the growth of the mobile internet and the need for enterprises to keep data up-to-date and secure across a growing number of connected devices.

Funambol, which has over three million users including large enterprises and mobile operators, said it expects to see a surge in the use of its service as the mobile internet continues to grow.

"Because we are an open source application we can link all manner of connected devices from mobile phones, desktop machines and connected devices such as cars to keep data synced and secure," said vice president of marketing Hal Steger.

"This allows users, including businesses, to keep information across multiple devices up-to-date to ensure it is correct and allows for a more efficient way of securing data in the cloud in case a phone is lost or damaged."

The system also allows IT managers to set up user groups for employees in the business to allow relevant employees to sync data among themselves to provide more efficient data sharing, such as contact details among a sales team working remotely.

Steger said that the firm was looking to improve enterprise security with the addition of a remote lock and wipe function to its Device Management tool to ensure that any devices that are lost cannot have their information stolen.

"Currently if a phone is lost we can wipe the data from the back end, then sync the phone so at least the data can't be accessed or used, but there is no way to lock the phone," he explained.

Adam Leach, principal analyst at Ovum, said he thought that mobile cloud syncing technology would grow, noting that many major mobile manufacturers include this technology on their devices.

"Windows, Google and Palm all have syncing technologies in their mobile offerings and it's certainly a technology that will grow in popularity as connected devices grow in use," he said.

Leach added that while mobile syncing does give IT managers the chance to manage their mobile workforces more effectively it is more likely that the real growth for the technology would come from consumers.

"It's easier to sell mobile syncing to IT managers as it provides a clear benefit for ensuring information is updated for staff but as smartphone sales increase, the technology will become an inherent part of the device proposition," he said.

New Funambol Cloud API Makes it Easy to Mashup Mobile and Online Data across Billions of Mobile Phones and Connected Devices

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 24, 2010 -- Funambol, the open source mobile cloud sync company, today announced the availability of the new Funambol Cloud API (CAPI). CAPI makes it simple for developers to create mobile cloud apps that leverage contacts, calendars and pictures across diverse devices and systems. It allows data and media to be mashed up for novel purposes, such as machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, for example, using contact data in a car or internet appliance, calendars with navigation systems, or pictures for a TV slideshow. Funambol is hosting a gallery of open source CAPI apps built by its global developer community to facilitate collaboration of new mobile cloud services.

"The mobile cloud makes it super easy for people to access their data and media, anytime, anywhere," said Fabrizio Capobianco, Funambol CEO. "The Funambol Cloud API allows developers to quickly create new types of apps and services that mashup mobile and online data across a broad variety of devices."

The Funambol mobile cloud server syncs data and media on billions of mobile phones and connected devices with social networks, email systems and PCs. Funambol CAPI makes it easy for developers to access synced data, such as contacts, calendars and pictures, using simple API calls from high-level languages, such as Java, AJAX and PHP. This allows rapid development of apps that mashup mobile and online data and media from diverse devices and systems, for a wide range of projects. For example, some apps and services that have been built using CAPI include:

Automatic sync of calendars (from Google, Outlook or mobile phones) to a wireless navigation device, enabling people to always access their calendar on a GPS device and for the device to tell people how to get somewhere without manually entering addressesSyncing pictures, which could be from mobile phones, to any internet-connected device, such as an e-picture frame, e-book reader, TV, or home internet appliance such as a ChumbySyncing contacts, which could be from Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail or mobile phones, with people's Facebook profile pictures, to a car, to eliminate manual entry or dialing of phone numbersProviding contacts and calendars, which could be from virtually any source, in iGoogle widgets

CAPI is designed to simplify the task of automatically accessing and sharing data such as contacts, calendars and photos from one system or device with another via the cloud. Funambol invites developers to use CAPI to create interesting apps and is hosting a gallery of open source CAPI apps built by Funambol community members, that can be modified for diverse purposes. For details about CAPI, visit its project page on the Funambol community forge at https://capi.forge.funambol.org/.

Sony Opens Android Developer Site

Sony becomes the first third-party manufacturer to open an Android development site based around the Google TV platform. The development site launch coincides with Sony's demonstration of its first line of Google TV-powered products. Sony is the first television manufacturer to incorporate Google's television search indexing and Internet browsing platform directly into their televisions with four HDTVs in 24-, 32-, 40-, and 46-inch models. Sony has also announced a Blu-Ray player with Google TV onboard that costs around US$ 400.

With Google TV running a modified version of Android 2.2, the platform features its own, specific apps such as a Netflix, CNBC, NBA Game Time, and an Amazon.com app for streaming media, but the platform is also compatible with smartphone apps, which can be downloaded from an Android user's phone onto the platform via the cloud. Google TV apps can also be purchased from the App Marketplace on a desktop and pushed directly to the platform.

There's nothing much to do on Sony's developer site at this time. Developers can register a developer account and then will receive updates when additional tools go live on the dev site. As Google TV gains popularity, expect more sites like Sony's to pop up in the future.

GNOME Project Receives Grants for Accessibility Work

The GNOME Project announced that Mozilla is supporting Gnome's accessibility work (a11y) with a US$ 10,000 grant, and the F123-Mais Diferenças partnership pitched in $5,000. The announcement says that the F123.org-Mais Diferenças partnership awarded the grant for "...Gnome's design and implementation of cursor and focus tracking on the eZoom module of Compiz fusion, and other accessibility improvements in GNOME to benefit persons with low vision and other disabilities and that Mozilla is helping to fund improvements in the Orca screen reader."

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Open Node 1.0 (stable) Released

Open Node, an Estonia-based company utilizing RHEL-based CentOS 5 to build locally manageable OpenVZ and KVM solutions, is on track to release the web-based FuncMAN management console later in October.

Open Node 1.0 Installer screenshot

According to the announcement, Open Node 1.0 uses the following:

* Kernel - ovzkernel-2.6.18-194.17.1.el5.028stab070.7

* KVM - kvm-83-164.asys.17.x86_64.rpm

Users can download Open Node 1.0 or see the roadmap for OpenVZ /KVM and FuncMAN on the company website.

Drawing internationally renowned thought-leaders, contributors, and organizations in the Open Source community, ApacheCon offers insight into the culture and community that develops and shepherds industry-leading Open Source projects, including Apache HTTP Server – the world's most popular Web server software for more than 10 years.

Intel Helps Create Open Data Center Alliance

Intel's Cloud 2015 initiative includes three key elements — a “federated” cloud, an “automated” network, and PC and device-savvy “client-aware” clouds. The company says it will support these goals by creating software and building new capabilities into Intel Xeon processors. In an effort to meet these Cloud 2015 goals, Intel helped create the Open Data Center Alliance, which includes more than 70 businesses. Read Intel's announcement to find out more.

Coverity Scan Discovers Vulnerabilities in the Android Code

Since 2006, Coverity has worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to identify software security vulnerabilities. In 2010, Coverity analyzed more than 61 million lines of open source code from more than 291 projects, including Android, Linux, Apache, Samba and PHP. According to the Coverity Scan 2010 Open Source Integrity Report, 45 percent of the identified vulnerabilities are considered "high-risk defects". The report also says that little has changed since 2008 in software development testing to help identify these security concerns and goes on to say, "It also demonstrates how easy it is to make these types of coding errors when the human factor comes into play."

This year's report takes an in-depth look at the Android 2.6.32 kernel and says that HTC Droid Incredible has about half the defects that would be expected for similar software of the same size, with about 1 defect per 1,000 lines of code, 359 of them in the currently shipping version of the HTC Droid Incredible. The report points out the fragmented accountability for Android software development, saying, "Android is based on Linux, which has thousands of contributors. Compound that with the Android developers from Google, the contributors to Android from the larger development community, and OEMs that supply components for specific configurations of Android to support different types of devices, and the lines of accountability are quickly blurred."

The entire report is free and available for download on the Coverity site: http://www.coverity.com/

CeBIT Open Source 2011: Call for Projects

For the third consecutive year, CeBIT Open Source invites projects to Hannover, Germany. The conference organizers and Linux Pro Magazine invite open source projects to apply for free exhibit space at CeBIT Open Source 2011.

At CeBIT Open Source 2010, the Mozilla booth was crowded most of the time.

CeBIT, the largest IT trade show on earth, will take place March 1-5 in Hannover, Germany. In 2009, the Deutsche Messe organization, which runs the annual trade show, announced the Open Source exhibit hall, and the volume of visitors to the packed area exceeded all expectations. Once again, Open Source projects will exhibit in Hall 2 at the 2011 CeBIT trade show site.

At CeBIT Open Source 2011, commercial enterprises, the Open Source Forum, and the Open Source Project Lounge will have the opportunity to present their work to the general public.

After talking to many visitors throughout CeBIT Open Source 2010, the Perl team was hoarse in the evening.

Linux Pro Magazine and Deutsche Messe invite projects who want to present their work at CeBIT Open Source 2011. An international jury of open source experts will decide which projects get the free exhibit space. Any open source project can apply now. Noncommercial projects with possible software applications in the industry will get priority consideration. The Call for Projects will run from now until November 30, 2010. The application forms are available on the Linux Pro Magazine site.

In addition to exhibit space, the winning projects will have the opportunity to present their work to a worldwide audience in Linux Pro Magazine and Linux Magazine. The award jury made up of international open source experts will select projects through middle of December, and winning projects will then be announced in the publications.

Canonical Demos uTouch

Canonical released a video demonstration of uTouch on the Unity desktop via Ubuntu Developers on BlipTV. On his blog, Duncan McGreggor, Engineering Manager of Product Strategy, points out that the uTouch stack is new with Ubuntu 10.10.

McGreggor writes, “This video shows off most of the touch capabilities that were integrated into Unity for Maverick. Neil Patel (fellow Big Lebowski fan) and John Lea will be working very closely together during Natty to expand this feature set to take more advantage of the gesture capabilities of uTouchSimlarly, Henrik Rydberg will be working with them to enhance the uTouch gesture engine. And all of us will be working on the newest addition to the uTouch family that Mark mentioned in his blog post: a gesture language.”

With planning for the next Ubuntu release, Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) starting at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in a few days, I couldn’t help but wonder what is in store for uTouch. McGreggor links to the DRAFT of Unity Gesture UI Guidelines and also provides a concise lists of gestures that were demonstrated in in the video.

Maemo Update to Allow N900 to Dual Boot with MeeGo.

The MeeGo blog has confirmed that the upcoming update for the Nokia N900 (PR 1.3), will allow a dual-boot option between MaeMo and MeeGo. Considering Intel's recent announcement that the smartphone market won't be getting an official MeeGo device until 2011, users eager to try the OS out on a phone are going to have to take what they can get.

An interesting note for developers, the dual-boot feature allows for testing Qt apps in both operating systems. App development for both MeeGo and Maemo are based on Nokia's Qt development APIs, allowing apps to be written on a PC and then transfered to both Maemo and MeeGo.

Nokia told the MeeGo blog that the N900 is used as a development hardware platform and that there is no plan to implement the dual-boot option in commercial software releases.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Astaro 8.100 Beta Testing Begins

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Oct 20, 2010

Astaro 8.100 focuses on Wireless functionality of Access Points and Wifi Controllers

Yesterday security solution provider Astaro announced that ASG appliance-users can begin Astaro 8.100 beta testing. Developers ask users to test ASG 8.100 in their own environment and give feedback using dedicated forums.

According to the company, ASG 8.100 usability improvements include: Improved Object Table, Dashboard Links, SMTP Profiles Redesign, Streamlined Interface Setup, Uplink Balancing Mixed Mode, HTTP Parent Proxy Routing.

Find out more about the release and testing at:
http://www.astaro.com/blog/astaro-8100-beta-begins

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MeeGo 1.1 Released

MeeGo 1.1 rolls out; 1.2 expected in April 2011

Yesterday the MeeGo 1.1 project release was announced on a Meego community blog. The 1.1 release includes Core OS 1.1, Netbook UX 1.1, In-Vehicle Infotainment UX 1.1, Hanset UX 1.1, and SDK 1.1 Beta.

The April 2011 release of MeeGo 1.2 should include a Handset UX release and other features that have been filed in MeeGo Featurezilla, a feature-development tracking tool.

Fedora 14 Takes Flight

Energetic Fedora community unveils fresh Fedora 14 and updated website

Today the Fedora Project rolled out Fedora 14, the latest release from this Red Hat-sponsored project. Fedora 14 includes the Spice framework for desktop virtualization, new debugging features, remote and out-of-band management capabilities, MeeGo Netbook UX 1.0, D programming language, updates to the Sugar desktop environment, and the OpenSCAP framework.

The Fedora 14 release video highlights new features and provides an overview of the Fedora community.

Visit the redesigned fedoraproject.org site to download the latest release, get involved with the Fedora community, or learn from online tutorials.

SCALE 9x: CFP closes December 13

According to the announcement, SCALE 9x encourages proposals focused on open source success stories, open source expansion into different markets and fields, and novel applications.

The 2011 SCALE event will have five speaker tracks: two specialized tracks (beginners and developers), a new system administration track, and two general tracks to accommodate talks across a wide spectrum of interests and skill levels.

Emap Selects MySource Matrix Open Source CMS for New Emap Networks Web Site Publishing Platform

Squiz UK today announced the successful delivery of a new ‘Web Site Foundry’ publishing system for Emap, based on its market leading Open Source Enterprise Web CMS, MySource Matrix. The system, built for Emap’s new ‘Networks’ service, is a super scalable platform that allows Emap to publish new events-based web properties in as little as 2 hours by applying a common base of brand, content and functionality assets to a series of standard design templates. The sites built using the new system are due to go live at the end of September.

The new ‘Networks’ platform enables Emap to handle the publishing and promotion of new events with maximum agility and flexibility. Production is strictly template-based, meaning the Emap marketing and events team can quickly roll out new sites from a simple (non-technical) user interface, using a common store of brand assets. As a result, the new system delivers a substantial cost saving on a per-site basis compared to the company’s previous web CMS architecture and has so far delivered over 100 new sites in under 3 weeks. Since MySource Matrix is open source, Emap can introduce new sites at will without incurring additional software licence fees, so they are able to focus their savings on higher value, people-based assets such as custom development and product design. The new system follows Squiz’s ‘Web Site Publishing Foundry’ offering.

All of the sites delivered via the new MySource Matrix platform have e-commerce capabilities built in at source, and all of them are tightly integrated with Emap’s SBClient online events management system. This application bridge was created by Squiz as part of the build and is based on an open API to enable Emap to add functionality to the system in the future. In practice, this means that new sites can be published via Matrix from a standard set of content assets that are managed by the company’s events team on the SBClient platform.

“Going the Open Source route with MySource Matrix has brought a sea change in our web production efforts,” said Jonathan Ferro, Web Director at Emap. “In the first instance, our cost base has changed for the better. We’re now spending our cash on development services rather than licences. Secondly, we have total freedom to deliver new sites, whenever we like. And thirdly, the Matrix Foundry platform means that we can do all of this rapidly.”

“We’re delighted with the success of the new Emap Networks system,” said Stephen Morgan, MD at Squiz UK. “It’s a great example of our Open Source CMS Web Site Foundry platform. We’re now delivering an array of high performance sites in as little as two hours each, and with very little overhead. Ultimately, we’ve given control of web production and promotion back to Emap’s marketing and events team. No technical smarts are required, which means that they can take new events to market in record speeds.”

Squiz is a Supported Open Source software company which was founded in Australia in 1998 and now has offices all around the world, including New Zealand, UK, Australia and Poland – with other additions imminent. Squiz’s Open Source Content Management System, MySource Matrix, is used by many leading companies including EMAP, Boots and Oxford University.

Squiz Announce The Squiz Suite – The World's First Supported Open Source Web Experience Management Suite

Squiz today announced the forthcoming release of the Squiz Suite, the world's first supported open source web experience management suite. The Suite is due for release in November 2010 and incorporates a content management system, innovative analytics capabilities, highly effective search and a robust platform for integrating applications and data. The entire Suite is underpinned by a global, 24/7 support framework and an automatic update service.

At launch, the Suite will be comprised of the following components:

Squiz Matrix is the latest release of the popular MySource Matrix enterprise content management system. It delivers highly flexible and robust business integration and application development tools. Squiz CMS is a highly usable interface for editing and publishing content within the Squiz Suite. It features true inline editing, context sensitive help and powerful collaboration features. Squiz Analytics offers innovative and powerful tools to help optimise site content. Set goals and test the results using fully integrated and simple to use A/B/C testing. Squiz Analytics integrates with Google Analytics allowing you to leverage the functionality you already value. Squiz Search utilises the Funnelback search engine to deliver high quality search results, contextual navigation and search based applications.

John Paul Syriatowicz, Managing Director of Squiz commented "One of the inherent beauties of the open source business model is how close it keeps us to our customers. We know the challenges they face over the coming years go beyond managing web content. They need to engage prospects, customers and employees using increasingly sophisticated websites, intranets and online applications. The Squiz Suite enables them to create, manage and optimise these engagements using one, globally supported platform."

For more information, please see the Squiz Labs blog for the latest product details and release dates: www.squizlabs.com.

Squiz is a Supported Open Source solutions company that was founded in Australia in 1998 and now has offices all around the world, including New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Poland and the North America. Squiz's Supported Open Source Content Management System, MySource Matrix, is used by many leading organisations including The Australian Government, EMAP, the University of Oxford and the UK Electoral Commission. The company's new Web Experience Management Suite, Squiz Suite, is due to be released in November 2010.

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Monday, November 8, 2010

Squiz Now Provide MySource Matrix Supported Open Source CMS as a SaaS (Software as a Service) Package

Squiz UK today announced the availability of its enterprise-class Supported Open Source CMS, MySource Matrix, on a SaaS (Software as a Service) basis. The new package enables start ups, brands and enterprises to deploy sophisticated Matrix sites with more security, flexibility, scalability and cost control.

Matrix Saas comes as a hardware, software, hosting and SLA bundle which means new systems can be provisioned immediately - with minimal outlay on hardware, admin and implementation costs. Pricing plans mean customers can ramp the service up and down as required. This provides an ideal environment for enterprise pilot projects, a stable of event-based micro sites or launch services for smaller organisations who wish to avoid expensive start up costs and get their systems up and running quickly.

The new service is delivered via Squiz’s fully managed data centre which is housed in an ultra-secure bunker in the UK. Systems are provisioned on a scalable platform and are monitored and supported 24x7x365. Each package comes with a full system SLA, an uptime guarantee, full remote backup, and a flexible migration path to allow systems to scale quickly and effectively - giving organisations of every size a secure open source CMS platform that’s supported by professionals and ready to grow.

As a Supported Open Source solution, Matrix SaaS is designed to give customers full flexibility to build quickly, test, implement and re-configure their systems as they please. Pricing is set on a ‘per instance’ basis, meaning that multiple sites, domains and services can be delivered (and switched on and off) via a single Matrix environment, without license restrictions.

“Matrix SaaS is a significant package for the enterprise and start up markets,” said Steve Morgan, MD Squiz UK. “SaaS is a proven model - it makes so much sense to pay as you go, particularly for smaller organisations or pilot and micro site projects. What’s new here is that it’s an open source environment, and we support all of it, from top to bottom.”

“This means customers will get all of the cost efficiencies of a SaaS model, but also the extreme flexibility of working on an Open Source platform with professional support back up from us. Essentially, we provide the framework, hand over the keys and then act as an ultra-secure guarantor and service partner for the lifetime of the system... which is something that hasn’t been available at this level in the open source space until now.”

New Bundling Scheme Makes MySource Matrix v3.20 the World’s Most Accessible, Fully Integrated and Easy to Evaluate Enterprise CMS

Squiz, developers of the world’s leading enterprise-class Supported Open Source CMS, MySource Matrix, today announced the introduction of a brand new, ultra-simple packaging initiative for its web content management product. The new-look bundling of software components significantly reduces the complexity of evaluating and acquiring an enterprise web CMS application by making all key MySource Matrix CMS elements available out of the box (and free of charge) under its primary GPL open source license.

As part of this new initiative, Squiz has also streamlined its secondary license, the SSV (Squiz Supported Version). The SSV now groups together all of MySource Matrix’s high-end application integration tools in one simple package. This redistribution of software elements is designed to make it easier for customers to choose between the GPL or the SSV version of the product.

The all-new SSV is now more clearly positioned as the package of choice for complex content management environments that require integration with third party enterprise applications and web services – such as TRIM document management and Microsoft Sharepoint – and also need the commercial support benefits of an advanced application warranty from Squiz. This ‘SSV’ suite of advanced integration tools will be made available at zero cost to customers that choose to purchase a Squiz SLA to support their MySource Matrix implementation.

Squiz also announced the general availability of version 3.20 of MySource Matrix. Major enhancements in v3.20 include a new range of ‘out of the box’ accessibility, ‘web 2,’ and SEO functionality such as YouTube video integration in Matrix’s WYSIWYG editing environment; new, zero-training ‘Simple Edit’ front end editing user profiles; sophisticated URL remapping and metadata management capabilities; and a brand new WYSIWYG, inline accessibility checker.

For the first time, all of these advanced enterprise elements are brought together as a single application install under Squiz’s new packaging of the GPL version of the product – making MySource Matrix v3.20 the world’s most accessible, fully integrated and easy to evaluate enterprise-class CMS. This version of the product is available for free download today at: http://www.matrix.squiz.net/.

Squiz’s new license packaging is designed to take the complexity out of researching, evaluating, testing and acquiring an enterprise-class web content management system. Under a simple GPL license and in a single install, MySource Matrix v3.20 now provides all of the requisite elements for building the most demanding web systems; meaning that users can download, review and implement all of the core product features without restriction and without needing to factor any additional product ‘extenders,’ ‘modules’ or ‘widgets’ into their evaluation processes.

“Our new license packaging addresses that fact that 99% of enterprise-class software applications are immensely difficult to assess and acquire,” said Steve Morgan, MD at Squiz UK. “Our new bundling means we can now provide all of the elements you’ll ever need to build an advanced enterprise-class web site right out of the box – with no tie-ins, lock downs or spaghetti modifications with additional feature sets or ‘extenders.’ Given the tough economic climate, we think this is the best thing we can do to make web content management more accessible for the enterprise. It’s easy. Just download v3.20, evaluate all of it, and start spending your time and money on the things that really count like fine-tuning and custom development. MySource Matrix gives you all the materials you need to do this right here and now…”

Further information about new features and enhancements in v3.20 of MySource Matrix can be found via: http://www.squiz.co.uk/mysource-matrix/whats-new-in-3.20

‘Supported Open Source’ software company, Squiz was founded in Australia in 1998 and now has offices all around the world, including New Zealand, UK, Australia and Poland – with other additions imminent. Squiz’s Open Source Content Management System MySource Matrix is used by many leading companies including EMAP, Boots and Oxford University.

University of Westminster Launches New Website on Squiz’s Open Source CMS Platform, MySource Matrix

Squiz UK today announced the successful launch of the University of Westminster’s new website, based on MySource Matrix Open Source CMS platform. The project was completed, from commissioning to live, in just eight weeks, and gives the university the platform for exciting new opportunities and control of their future development costs.

After a rapid evaluation period, the in-house technical team at the University of Westminster chose MySource Matrix to meet an urgent requirement to advance their website onto a contemporary and high performing technical platform. Work to develop the new web design and content was in place on an earlier, proprietary, system, however the earlier platform had been outgrown, there were significant technical issues and the University team were confronted by very tight deadlines. MySource Matrix was selected in a competitive evaluation based on acquisition price, and won because it provided the right mix of performance, scalability and system integration capabilities and a clean and easy front end for the University’s content editors - as well as a rigorous workflow engine.

The Squiz team were challenged to deliver a cost-effective implementation of the wire-frame web design in a necessarily short period to move design to production: in an accelerated co-development period of just 3 weeks working with Squiz, the target was met. Once the technical platform was in place, Squiz trained the core Westminster developer, editorial and administration team, enabling them to handle content migration and to create much of the new site architecture themselves. The Squiz technical team then assisted with advanced elements of the build. The live site is managed and hosted out of Squiz’s ultra-secure data centre and is fully managed via an enterprise-level SLA to handle day-to-day support issues and application tuning.

"We're delighted with the final result and with Matrix," said Professor Roger James, Director of Information Services at the University of Westminster. "We'd struggled in the past trying to move our existing CMS system forward and demanded something to deliver greater flexibility, the architecture to deliver new functionality and a better content editing experience. Essentially, we needed to have a system which provided more from the basic product and was extendable without having to rely on extensive and expensive development work. A product that did not require a significant budget each time we added something new. The arrangement with Squiz is very promising. The software is available without a massive up-front purchase cost, and we can employ Squiz technical help as and when we need it. And with an SLA in place it’s a safe choice for us - we can just pick up the phone if we need help."

The new site went live, on time, in September. Future plans are to integrate the Website with a new development of the Intranet facilities and move the core content management facilities of the university to a modern, easy to create and easy to use infrastructure.

"We can provide the five most important things a University needs from a Web Content Management Platform," said Stephen Morgan, Managing Director, Squiz UK, "which are:

Ease of use: MySource Matrix provides a selection of different user interfaces to suit the broad range of skill levels you find within Universities.Integration with a diverse range of systems: MySource Matrix provides a suite of integration tools from simple screen scraping, up to database bridges and web service APIs. These tools allow the system to integrate with the extremely divese range of platforms you find within the HE environment.Scalability: MySource Matrix is easy to scale in terms of the number of editors, amount of content served and high traffic loads in peak periods.Flexible business model: As the University of Westminster example shows, Squiz can provide complete flexibility from ad hoc support hours right up to fixed price projects and comprehensive Service Level Agreements.A coherent roadmap specifically for Higher Education: Squiz services over a dozen Universities in the UK including Oxford, Greenwich and Edinburgh. Along with double that number in America and Australia. Our solutions roadmap for Higher Education is therefore robust and industry leading.

We’re delighted to be associated with University of Westminster. It’s one more great example of how Squiz is driving Web Content Management in Higher Education forward."

Squiz is a Supported Open Source solutions company which was founded in Australia in 1998 and now has offices all around the world, including New Zealand, UK, Australia and Poland – with other additions imminent. Squiz’s Open Source Content Management System, MySource Matrix, is used by many leading companies including EMAP, Boots and Oxford University.

Further information about Squiz and MySource Matrix

Founded in 1838 as Britain’s first polytechnic, the University of Westminster now teaches more than 22,000 students on undergraduate courses, Masters, research, professional programmes and short courses across its sites in central and north-west London.

The University has a long history of innovation and leading the way in developing new technologies, including opening the first ever photographic studio in Europe and showing the first moving pictures to a paying British public.

New Web Site for Open Source CMS Leaders, Squiz: More Content, More CMS News, More CMS Reviews

Supported Open Source CMS company Squiz today unveiled an all-new web site at: http://www.squiz.co.uk. As creators of the world’s leading enterprise Supported Open Source Content Management System (CMS), MySource Matrix, the new site represents a complete online revamp for its UK operations, including significant improvements to site usability and best practice content.

In keeping with its recent ‘Our Skin, Your Game’ web content management manifesto, the site re-launch demonstrates the sort of forward-thinking and accessible web publishing that’s possible with the MySource Matrix Open Source CMS. The new site is packed with best practice white papers, blog posts and webinars, all of which are specifically designed to help Squiz clients figure out better ways of squeezing more value from their web content management projects in today's harsh economic climate.

Steve Morgan, founder of Squiz UK said of the re-design: “Following some excellent work from our sales and marketing team last year, we've decided to try and deliver as much value and insight as possible via Squiz.co.uk, and make it more of a public forum for sharing best practise ideas. The new site brings a wealth of useful case studies, analyst reviews and white papers, as well as a bunch of great examples of how you can get more bangs for your buck from a supported open source CMS project using MySource Matrix.”

In a year that’s already seen significant changes amongst the (non Open Source) CMS vendor community – including closures and intended takeovers – Squiz’s web site relaunch reasserts its position as a growing, debt free and profitable Open Source CMS company.

Ben Wales, General Manager of Squiz UK concluded: “The new website brings us up to date. It’s a much better reflection of the type of exciting site our clients are asking us to implement with MySource Matrix. It also showcases the talents of our design team and tells a far more complete story about Squiz and our Supported Open Source business model. Truth be told, the new website is overdue – but we’ve been more than busy with the big name clients you can see on the home page banner.”

A ‘Supported Open Source’ software company, Squiz was founded in Australia in 1998 and now has offices all around the world, including New Zealand, UK, Australia and Poland – with other additions imminent.

Squiz produces the enterprise-class Open Source Content Management System (CMS), MySource Matrix, and delivers progressive MySource Matrix CMS service solutions to customers around the world from its network of sales and support centres in Australasia and Europe.

MySource Matrix is used to power the web sites and intranets of many of the world's leading organisations, including EMAP, Boots, Oxford University and The Australian Federal Government.

Latest MySource Matrix Release includes Funnelback Search Integration for Superior Search Capability

The latest version of the Open Source CMS, MySource Matrix, (version 3.26.2) was released this week by Squiz. For the first time Funnelback Search has been integrated into the Squiz Supported Version (SSV) delivering fast, effective indexing and searching of content housed in a MySource Matrix system.

MySource Matrix has been integrated with purpose-built Funnelback binaries incorporating powerful features for improving search results such as Contextual Navigation, Featured Pages, Type Formats and spelling suggestions. The Funnelback Search Page asset has been expanded to make it easy to implement these features.

Scripts are available within the Funnelback package which can be configured to update the index, giving the administrator control over the frequency with which the indexer is run, according to the amount of content being indexed and its dynamic requirements.

Stephen Morgan, Managing Director of Squiz UK Ltd, commented, "Our continued belief in the importance of effective search for successful CMS projects is driving forward the relationship between Squiz and Funnelback. We're proud to be able to offer “cutting edge” search seamlessly integrated into what is already a feature rich CMS. The pace of the integration, post acquisition has been very impressive and we are excited by the rest of the development roadmap planned for 2010."

Squiz is a Supported Open Source solutions company which was founded in Australia in 1998 and now has offices all around the world, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Poland. Squiz's Supported Open Source Content Management System, MySource Matrix, is used by many leading companies including EMAP, the University of Oxford and the Electoral Commission. Squiz acquired Funnelback in July 2009, from Australia’s Federal Government Research Agency, the C.S.I.R.O.

Funnelback's core business is the development and provision of world class internet and enterprise search products and services. Its search technology allows your staff or clients to find key information held on websites, intranets, databases and many other internal information repositories. This drives greater ROI on your information assets, more satisfied users and more efficient and productive staff. Funnelback processes millions of search requests each day by organisations including the London School of Economics, Digital UK, the Electoral Commission, the Australian Government and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Squiz Announces New Independent Analyst Review of MySource Matrix from Ovum / The Butler Group

London, 19th April, 2010

Squiz, developers of the enterprise-class open source CMS MySource Matrix, today announced the availability of a new, independent review of MySource Matrix, from leading analysts Ovum / The Butler Group.

The new 'Technology Audit' is a comprehensive third party assessment of MySource Matrix, its features and functionality. The report also describes and assesses Squiz, its service-based business model and how it delivers solutions to customers.

Ovum combines the ICT expertise of Datamonitor Technology, the Butler Group and Ovum, to produce independent and objective analysis, which enables their clients to make better business and technology decisions.

The result is a concise seven page report which is available as a free download from the Squiz website.

Ovum's key conclusions, as detailed in the report:

MySource Matrix is an open-source content management system that helps organisations to create, edit, manage, and publish web-based content. It is designed in a way that content authors need little or no knowledge of HTML to create and publish new information to websites. It allows organisations to publish dynamic targeted content that enhances the user experience. It supports multiple languages, enabling organisations to produce localised content that adheres to global branding. A number of tools are available within MySource Matrix to facilitate integration with third-party systems including databases, SharePoint, RSS feeds, external website content and web services. The search capability has been enhanced with Funnelback Search, which can be easily integrated with MySource Matrix and can also be used to search external systems. MySource Matrix enables medium to large-sized organisations to implement cost-effective open-source WCM solutions that are easy to use. As an open-source product, MySource Matrix is free of license fees, and Squiz adds value by providing clients with commercial services. These are offered through a series of packages, which enable customers to select the level of support they require.

In Ovum's words, "Squiz sees a major opportunity coming from the increased adoption of supported open-source solutions in the enterprise, with some enterprises realising that commercial open-source products such as MySource Matrix can provide comparable or better functionality than traditional licensed products without the need for expensive license fees."

The report is free and available for download here: www.squiz.co.uk/mysource-matrix-open-source-cms/reviews/ovum

Squiz is a Supported Open Source solutions company which was founded in Australia in 1998 and now has offices all around the world, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Poland. Squiz's Supported Open Source Content Management System, MySource Matrix, is used by many leading organisations including EMAP, the University of Oxford and the Electoral Commission.

Further information on MySource Matrix

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