Kentico CMS v7 Release Plan Update

We really care about the quality of our product and feel that if we released version 7 at the end of June as planned, its quality wouldn't meet our standards. That is why we gave its release plan a second thought, went through all possible scenarios, considered all the long-term feedback from our clients, and decided to rearrange the release plan for version 7 to maximize product value in the short-term and in the future.

There are two main reasons for this decision. If we released version 7 at the end of June:

• The quality of the final version woudn't meet our standards. We prefer to give ourselves the appropriate time to provide a stable version, rather than fixing potential problems with numerous hotfixes.
• We wouldn't be able to deliver version 8 before the end of this year, which means clients would have to wait almost a year for some really important features that are planned.

Because of these reasons, we decided to change our release schedule in the following way:

We will release Kentico CMS v7 Release Candidate at the end of June. This will allow you to start working on your projects if you specifically need new v7 features. Since this date is soon, we won't release the Beta version right now. We will provide an upgrade path from the RC to the final version, however we won't provide the 7-day bug-fixing policy for it, as it won't be a final version. Still, if you face any show-stoppers, we will devote our best efforts to help you overcome those until the final version is ready. Please note, that the RC version isn't intended for a production environment. Unless you need v7 features, you should still use v6 for your new projects.

Kentico CMS v7 Final will be officially released at Kentico Connection in Denver, September 2012.

The final version will also provide the following additional features:

• User-friendly UI for Mobile layouts - Current implementation in the RC is targeted more for developers than end users, as you will learn later with the RC. We want to build a nice intuitive UI on top of it, so we want to give that a little bit of time as well.
• Team development - Support for locking (check-out, check-in) of development objects such as CSS stylesheets, layouts, etc. It is a must for larger projects and we don't want to postpone this feature.
• Marketing automation - Ability to set up automatic marketing processes.

After we release Kentico CMS v7 Final, we will provide an automated upgrade procedure using Kentico Installation Manager from both Kentico CMS v6 (including SP1) and Kentico CMS v7 RC. The upgrade procedure will be available in October 2012.

This plan should give you enough options for now, and maximized value once the final version is released.

Note: Should you need to move your current v6 project to v7 RC. The only option is to transfer your data by exporting the web site to an export package, and import this package to v7 RC. The official upgrade procedure will be available later.

We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. Should this have any negative effects on your current projects, let us know through support@kentico.com and we will try to find a solution for you.