SilverStripe.com Blog
SilverStripe v2.2.1 released
To keep you merry over Christmas we've released a new version of SilverStripe that contains a number of small but important bug fixes, and a number of new languages for the administration interface: Bulgarian, Czech, Hungarian, Russian, Swedish, Slovak, Turkish and both Brazil's and Portugal's dialects of Portuguese.
- Download silverstripe-v2.2.1.tar.gz (linux) or SilverStripeCMS-v2.2.1.exe (windows)
- There are no special upgrading instructions.
Just follow the normal upgrade process.
What makes this release so cool is that most of these languages were included thanks to our involvement in the Google Highly Open Participation Contest. Either the students translated the langauge, peer reviewed it for quality assurance, or both!
Forum boasts OpenID and other improvements
Version 0.12 of the our forum module has just been released. One of the key improvements is making it easier to register and login to forums, thanks to an ongoing effort by Markus Lanthaler who joined us for Google Summer of Code at the start of 2007.
Markus added OpenID support, including the use of attribute exchange.This means visitors to your forum can store their personal details (name, email, password, etc) in one place and not have to manually type them in when registering to your forum, saving them time. The fact your password is centralised is also more secure and convienient than might expect; I hate the fact that if I sign up to a system that any password I use could easily be tried on another account, and OpenID solves that.
5 Comments Tags: forum, module, silverstripe software
Agile Barcamp Success
The dust has settled, but we're still buzzing from the Agile Barcamp in Wellington on 7 December. This was a contributor-organised all-day conference held in the gorgeous office space at the top of the Deloitte building in the CBD. At the previous E-government Barcamp one of the recurring topics was agile development and project management methods. Some of us who attended thought it would be a good idea to organise another barcamp focused on agile so we could more deeply explore some topics that were hinted at during the e-govt barcamp.
Some attributes of a barcamp are that it's not commercial (there were some generous sponsors who covered costs of food and t-shirts but attendance was free) nor polished in a traditional conference sense, and that it relies heavily on interaction betweent the presenters and attendees. There is no schedule of talks until the day of the event when people who want to speak put a yellow sticky up on a big sheet of paper, indicating where, when, and what they want to talk about. Sounds like it won't work, right? It actually works surprisingly well. It also gives people who roll up on the day a chance to present. That's a key point.
0 Comments Tags: agile, barcamp, event, speaking
More goodies!
We've just released:
- SilverStripe 2.2.1rc2 and forum 0.1.2rc2 for testing (changelogs)
- Two new themes to download, Gecko and Haze.
- Three new widgets to add feedburner support, show links, or display the current time in any country.
Thanks to everyone who helped put these together!
0 Comments Tags: release candidate, theme, widget, silverstripe software
Open Source Software taking off in government
I imagine Barry Polley expertly swinging a machete to clear a path in a dense Honduran jungle. If Barry's never cleared a path in a jungle, I'd be surprised. Because that's exactly what he's doing at the Ministry of Justice.
Barry has authored the Ministry of Justice Open Source Discussion Paper which was just released. It's a broad and deep document that talks about open source in general and talks about specifics of why the New Zealand Ministry of Justice needs to adopt open source strategies. (Full disclosure: I reviewed a draft of this paper and provided some small amount of feedback)
0 Comments Tags: open source, government, OSS
SilverStripe 2.2.1rc1 and forum module update
UPDATE 18/12/2007: SilverStripe 2.2.1rc2 and forum 0.1.2rc2 have been released.
Hot off the heels of SilverStripe v2.2.0, which introduced a major new look and feel, and dozens of new features, comes the SilverStripe v2.2.1rc1 release, with:
Brian's blog
Our CEO, Brian Calhoun, has started a stream of thought-provoking articles at the newly launched Brian's Blog. Most recently he's written about SilverStripe's human approach, and how the Ministry of Justice, who set many of the trends the rest of the New Zealand central government follow, is boldly advocating open source software.
Go check out silverstripe.com/brians-blog or subscribe via RSS to get the latest on some of the bigger things that are on Brian's radar.
Google Contest already producing great results
The first two weeks of the Google Highly Open Participation contest have been amazing.
We had so many tasks worked on by highschool students that we've had to create a whole new batch of tasks, and it looks like we'll be needing to repeat this throughout the remaining six weeks of the contest to prevent it from prematurely finishing.
4 Comments Tags: ghop
SilverStripe ranked 113th in Asia Pacific for Growth
SilverStripe Limited has been ranked ranked the 113th fastest growing company in the 2007 Deloitte Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500 index, which ranks technology companies across Australia, China (including Hong Kong), India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.
As part of the index, Deloitte have compiled a comprehensive report about the 500 companies including reasons for growth and success, perceived threats, business confidence, and acting "green". It is awesome to see an overwhelming trend that successful companies are like-minded to SilverStripe: not only working in the interests of environment, but doing it because they felt it's the right thing to do (rather than a facade to sway the consumer.)
Be more human
What does it mean to "Be more human?" The concept of being more human has been running around in my head for a number of years now. The basic premise is this: we as people can group together with a few (dozen? thousand? million?) like-minded individuals and get some great stuff done. What is that "great stuff?" For me, the great stuff revolves around making the web easier, more fun, and more exciting.
The "Be more human" aspect really comes in when you think about what it would take to achieve that great stuff. In the web industry, those of us who create software and websites (those terms are almost indistinguishable for the kind of work we do) spend a lot of time in front of computer screens. Ten to sixteen hours a day is common. During those ten to sixteen hours it's easy for us to focus on the next new feature, the next browser compatibility issue, the next Ajax debugging technique. All those things need to be done, sure, but there needs to be more context. That context is, quite simply, being human.
6 Comments Tags: human, silverstripe company
How do humans win?
Webstock is here! We've been in heads-down mode for a while, working on sites for councils, Air New Zealand, and American clients too. So now is the time to celebrate the local scene and be proud of Webstock!
SilverStripe Ltd Level 5, Symes de Silva House, 97–99 Courtenay Place, Wellington, New Zealand. Phone us: +64 4 978 7330. Paid Support available: +64 4 978 7333.
Looking for our Open Source Software? Then head to SilverStripe.org.
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