Umbraco v5 Aftermath and v4 Progress

Its been about a month since the Umbraco HQ and key community members made the tough decision to stop development of version 5 and refocus on version 4.  Gary and I were attending CodeGarden '12 and experienced the range of emotions of the community.  By the end of the conference It was clear that there was renewed commitment to the core and project from the community. Lots of people were willing to help and asking how to contribute.  Now that we are a month away from CodeGarden, was it all talk or are people still motivated?  

Here's what I have seen over the last month:

The HQ promised better visibility into the core processes.  

This has taken shape in the Umbraco Development Google Group for discussing core changes and to allow more people to get involved with the core discussions.  This may be the biggest success of the conference.  There have been lots and lots of posts, discussions, and involvement from around the world. It's fairly impressive and it bodes well for the future.

Umbraco Development Google Group: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/umbraco-dev

The Umbraco HQ said they would take a more agile approach to development and release every 6 weeks.

Currently version 4.8 is in beta and is on schedule to release 6 weeks after CodeGarden.  Nice!

Umbraco 4.8.0 Beta: http://umbraco.codeplex.com/releases/view/90647

There was a renewed commitment to documentation and to allow community members to contribute to docs like v5 had.

The HQ has setup a GitHub repository for version 4 documentation and have already released an initial version to the our.Umbraco.org site.  This could be massive for getting new developers on board with Umbraco.

Umbraco v4 Documentation: http://our.umbraco.org/documentation

Help community members get up to speed quickly with how to contribute to the project

There is now a section on Our Umbraco devoted to getting new contributors up to speed on fixing bugs, writing documentation, and submitting issues.  This is evolving, but is a great start and underscores the change in attitude to getting a true community effort around the project.

Contribute to the Umbraco Project: http://our.umbraco.org/contribute

Integrate some of the best packages to v4

This has started in version 4.8.0 with some of the most popular uComponents data types being pulled into the core.  Things like Multi-Node Tree Picker, Multiple Textstring, Slider and XPath Lists are now in the base install which is a good thing.  Site builders should be using those regularly as they create a better editing experience.  

From what I have read on the Developers Group there is more that will make it in in the future.

Create a Road Map for future releases and development of Umbraco version 4.

Other than the image to your right which was a draft created at the pre-CodeGarden retreat and posted at CodeGarden 12, there hasn't been much released officially from the HQ about the Road Map to date.  They are definitely working on it and expect to have something in late July / early August from what I've read on the Dev Group.

UPDATE: The Umbraco Road Map is now live here: http://our.umbraco.org/contribute/roadmap

Pull features from v5 to v4

There is a fair amount of discussion on this in the forums and there is some movement with packages like umbraMVCo that brings MVC to v4.  However, this will likely see more action as the Road Map is released.

My Thoughts

Overall, I feel like the energy from CodeGarden has continued over the last month and that is awesome.  Despite the bad vibes from the v5 cancellation if the key community members and agencies stick with it and help move things forward, then I'm not concerned over the long term.  I do think in the short term there is still risk of a loss of momentum, but if the community continues to be energized it will become a memory.  

If you really like using Umbraco and want to see it thrive, then there has never been a better time to get involved!

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