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Big Squiz News : Everything going GPL, a new updated MySource Mini and the Easy Edit Suite coming your way

Dear MySource Community Member,

Squiz has some exciting news to share with all MySource users so I thought you might appreciate this brief email. Squiz is happy to announce:

  • That we have released all of our SSV modules as GPL
  • A terrific new Easy Edit Interface is now available for MySource Matrix (also GPL)
  • The launch of a new manuals site available at http://manuals.matrix.squiz.net
  • The upgrade process for MySource Matrix has just got a whole lot easier
  • The release of a fantastic new feature packed version of the MySource Mini
  • Integration between MySource Matrix and the MySource Mini
  • The Mini is now more attractive to individuals with free updates and inexpensive hosting

I’ve included a little more information on each of these announcements below, but feel free to speak to anyone at Squiz to discuss these in more detail.

Everything is GPL (no more SSV)

Squiz has made yet another huge donation to the MySource community by releasing all of its SSV modules as GPL in MySource Matrix version 3.28 (released today).

This announcement means Squiz’s many integration and content import tools such as the TRIM and SharePoint Bridges, our Data Sources and the Google Maps integration are now all 100% free and GPL.

The Squiz built MySource Matrix search is also free and GPL however Funnelback’s search will not be made GPL but is free for all Squiz SLA holders.

All clients are still able to enjoy all the warranty, commercial reassurances and other benefits offered by a Squiz Service Level Agreement with the now 100% GPL MySource Matrix.

New Easy Edit Suite for MySource Matrix

Squiz has built a terrific new generic simple edit interface for MySource Matrix that looks just like the MySource Mini. We have called this tool the Easy Edit Suite (or EES) because it brings a whole range of simple editing functionality to content authors. Anyone who has seen the MySource Mini editing interfaces will appreciate what a boon this will be for usability.

The Easy Edit Suite is GPL and can easily be added to existing MySource Matrix installations (you will require a recent version of MySource Matrix). The Suite has even been designed to support editing complex content through the addition of “workspaces”. Squiz is building a library of pre-configured workspaces that it will make available at no cost to SLA holders.

New site - manuals.matrix.squiz.net

At long last we have built an HTML version of all our manuals rather than distributing them as PDFs. The new site http://manuals.matrix.squiz.net/ is a tremendous resource that is powered by Funnelback which makes finding relevant information easy and fast.

If you have an iPhone, visit the site using the inbuilt Safari browser and then bookmark the site and chose “Add to Home Screen” for a nifty way to access MySource Matrix’s manuals in the future.

Upgrade improvements for MySource Matrix

Squiz Labs have developed a systems for automating much of the upgrade process for MySource Matrix. We can’t fully automate the upgrade process (as we have for the MySource Mini) because we support MySource Matrix in a very a wide range of platforms, and configurations often with customised components. Even so, this new upgrade system, available to clients with a Squiz SLA, improves the quality (though inbuilt QA testing) and speed of upgrading MySource Matrix.

The new MySource Mini

The MySource Mini is already packed with innovations but it has lacked a few key features that have limited it’s usefulness for some people. Squiz Labs have released a new version of the MySource Mini that includes:

  • Integration with MySource Matrix
  • LDAP and Active Directory integration
  • File system bridge (dynamically sources files from your file system into the Mini)
  • Multi-byte character support for foreign language publishing
  • Safe edit and content versioning
  • Contexts (e.g. you can now nominate the Chinese, mobile version of a piece of content intended for release in a month)

The MySource Mini-Matrix bridge is a brilliant innovation that allows clients to host both Mini and a Matrix systems in their organisation and share content between them. Squiz is often asked to build simple project sites separate to an organisation’s main enterprise install. The mini is the perfect solution because it can source content from MySource Matrix, uses the same editing interfaces (if you use the Easy Edit Suite) and is super simple to deploy and maintain. Funnelback closes the gap between the different product installs allowing clients to discover content anywhere in your MySource Matrix or Mini systems.

This new release is still Beta but will become a production release next month.
 
Mini for Individuals

The MySource Mini has just become much more accessible to individuals wishing to build small sites. Squiz has released the update subscription which is available for free to individuals  or small organisations with a turnover of less than $500K.

We are also happy to announce inexpensive cloud based hosting available through Rackspace (US) and UltraServe (Australia).

I hope you are as excited by these announcements as we are at Squiz. If you want to know more about anything announced in this email please speak to Squiz.

Sincerely,

John-Paul Syriatowicz