Community Server 2008, Beta 1
This week I started on a new project here at Telligent. While I'm not sure what details I can get into (like client name etc) what I do know I can say is that it is going to be a fantastic opportunity to learn the newest release of Community Server!
That's right, in case you missed it, this past Tuesday Telligent announced the official release of CS08 Beta 1. So, what's new in CS 08? In case you're not going to click on the link above to find out for yourself, here is a subset of the changes that I am actually interested in (and more importantly for me, will have hands on experience in over the next couple of months):
- Groups: Private and public groups that support membership, blogs, forums, galleries ... yup, one community site that supports other community sites.
- Media Gallery: An update to the photo gallery that merges both Photos & File galleries into one application. Also expect to see viewers for images, audio to help share the content.
- Widgets: YAY! Widgets found their home at Telligent in GraffitiCMS, and were so warmly welcomed by our family that they have now found their way into Community Server. How sweet it is ...
- Web Services API: We are shipping a Web Services API with Community Server 2008. A REST implementation (is therea subject that Wikipedia doesn't have definitions for?) will make it easier than ever to share data from within CS with other applications and tools - could it get any cooler than that?
Also, some things have been removed from CS08 in order to make administration less of a headache. In my opinion, though, the coolest announcement came October 16th.
Upcoming Changes to Community Server 2008
We are removing the reader application. In this case, we have found that there are indeed some communities that leverage this feature, but we do not feel that it properly fits into the platform. As such, reader will no longer be offered as part of Community Server. Instead, we plan to release a separate RSS Reader application sometime in Summer 2008.
Forgive me if you disagree, but ANOTHER product being released by Telligent ... and an RSS Reader? I just can't think of anything this company is doing that ISN'T awesome.
And if you're as excited about all this as I am ...