SMF Newsletter - 1

[Thantos]

We didn't mass mail people for this.  We figure the last few mailings have been enough.

[Prasad007]

thanks for the info about rc3 ! 

[roxpace]

I like this forum, so do no take me wrong please...

If you release a RC3 I will definately NOT recommend my customers to use this application, since they have a lifecycle for their plans and they cant wait until the end of year 2006 before the new and most wanted smf will get released. In that sad moment we have to choose an alternative which most probably will be invision (not free but trustful) or own forum.

Please consider again, that you are losing possible future users of your application if you delays and delays and also never gives out a clear timetable, even opensource need to show a professional plan to prove their quality and let users have a chance to plan when to do implementation of this application.

[Grudge]

roxspace,

I'm confused - what is wrong with RC2? If we release an RC3 no-one will force your users to use it. I'm bemused as upgrading SMF is not difficult (It's a five minute process) and it's not as if it's necessary to upgrade to RC3 if you do not wish - simply wait for final.

I think it's absolutely clear why we didn't give out release dates. If you would have asked me when RC2 came out when final would have been released I would of said April. Now it is May and we are doing another RC. Isn't it better that we give no indication of date instead of giving one and then missing it?

The problem we had with RC2 was that we didn't have the multi-language support we needed for use with MySQL 4. That's taken a *load* of rework to get it right and we find ourself needing an RC3 to ensure it works correctly (Even though we've done considerable internal testing).

Besides, once 1.1 Final is out it won't take long for people to be looking to the next big release. It seems on one hand you are saying you don't want us to release and on the other you are saying you do? If you are not comfortable with the release process you should stick with the current stable range (1.0.x); people using the current development version (albeit in RC) should not expect guaranteed release dates - especially from a free project.

[roxpace]

Thanks for a good and clear answer.

Why we cant stick with the "current release" is because it lacks some important features which your upcoming will have. Also like someone else earlier said, that it is a matter of logic when to choose version number, your 1.0.x source tree is old now and is expected to get replaced very soon, it doesnt helps our customers for example.

How far into the future is RC3 ?  After that I atleast expect 3-4 months before final release (even if you cant tell me).

Also, from RC3, are you going to use the same old templates in the final version ?

And to be honest, is the version number 1.1 little low if you consider all recoding, new features and all ? I think it is a near version 2.0 which would also give a more sane reason to why it takes time.

[Gary]

I'd assume that the same templates that would be RC3 would be in the 1.1 Final.

I'd thought that would've been obvious... 

[Grudge]

The main templates from RC2 should work for RC3 that should work with Final. Only the source code should be changing with the rest of 1.1 (By main I mean the ones like index, Display etc - not admin ones). The one exception to this is the utf support changes - if you need full utf support you need to use the templates which will come in RC3 as they have charset added to the form tags.

[roxpace]

That answered a lot for me

I will wait for RC3 since the UTF8 support in the templates, hopefully atleast that one will not take to long before a release to the public for testing.

Keep up with the good work, this is still one of the best opensource web applications that is available.

[Niteblade]

I can't wait to see RC3 wage war against all the mods I have installed for RC2. Perhaps I'll just wait for the final version to come out. After all the headache I had getting all my mods to work with RC2, I don't have any more hair left to yank out. Well, I don't have any more hair that would be pleasant to yank out, that is.

[Gary]

I think it'd do that for most of mine. But I doubt that there will be much difference in the files between RC2 and RC3.

[Aaron]

You could always make a test installation to check if your mods will work, and upgrade if they do.

[agridoc]

I saw the "on hiatus" position a few days ago and I was alarmed. It reminded me "SMF friend".

It is written in the Newsletter

Pink is a controversial color on the team, you may have noticed the ugly/beautiful "On Hiatus" badge of some of our team. This is to identify that those members may not be posting for a short while as they have had to attend to other things but are intending on coming back.  We stand behind the fact that real life always comes first

- Controversial acts and labels cause unnecessary controversies.
- "On Hiatus" is put as position, not status. Position doesn' t change with vacation.
- Everybody with a little experience may put the information that he will not be able to post for a while in his personal text or sig.

It's up to the Team to decide but ...

I don't like "On Hiatus", neither as a label nor it's use. I think it must be withdrawn.

[Thantos]

Its only controversial due to it's color.  Some people attach silly meanings to colors and thus do / do not like the idea of having a pink badge.

The fact that it shows as the position on the forum is just a limitation of the system.  We set the primary group to the on hiatus group and give their normal group as a secondary.  However if you look at the team page http://www.simplemachines.org/about/team.php you'll see that their hiatus status hasn't changed their position.

The fact is though, while we are more then knowledgable enough to put the information in our signatures, many of the users do not look their for that type of information.  Also putting the information into the signature doesn't change the team page.

Originally the color of the hiatus group was done as a joke to encourage a particular member to return quickly, but now its become a running gag for the team.  Heck we've even make it into a verb.

In seriousness the Hiatus group serves its purpose well.  It clearly identifies the person as being away and provides some light entertainment for the forum.

[Nordoelum]

I'll give you feedback: the new theme sucks. Do a IPB or phpBB3 rip-off to make a deacent theme.

[Ben_S]

Sigh, thats hardly feedback, FWIW in my opinion IPB's theme is chunky and ugly and phpBB3's theme hasn't even been released yet .

Anyway, if you don't like the default theme, create your own, it's not hard, or use one of the ones someone else has made

If you can't offer constructive critisism, don't bother.

[bloc]

I'll give you feedback: the new theme sucks. Do a IPB or phpBB3 rip-off to make a deacent theme.

Oh, thats really original - just rip off others work.

[Gary]

And rather pointless, esepcially for a default. A default software theme should be unique. And the Core theme does it for SMF IMO.

[Nordoelum]

Hey, lets face it. SMF is a really nice piece of work. How ever, treating this nice piece with a theme that looks way 1998', isn't that good in my opinion.

m3talc0re can make some niffty themes you know.

@Ben_S: Check your glases, IPB Default skin, pwns

Birger

[Tim]

pwns?

Seriously, pwns?

M3talc0re has left the building. But if you think that it's too 1998, then the themesite and system is just for you. I hear it very much "pwns"

[Nordoelum]

Ohh yeah

The system pwns, even though the ACP need som redesigning. Yes, SMF pwns free solutions.

He have, because of the AJAX discussion?

Birger