Alfresco Community 3.3 adds new content services

Alfresco has announced the release of version 3.3 of its open source enterprise content management system (CMS). The latest release, the first under the LGPL, includes a range of content services for developers, such as support for IBM Lotus Social and a preview of Google Docs integration. John Newton, Alfresco Software CTO, said that, “The enhanced content services in Alfresco Community 3.3 are designed to help organisations better manage web presence with tools designed to simplify the process of building content-rich web applications using CMIS.”

Alfresco 3.3 Community Edition now implements version 1.0 of the OASIS Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS). CMIS is a specification which aims to deliver a common interface using either REST or Web Services. Other improvements include collaboration enhancements, the addition of a Web Editor Framework (WEF) for inline content editing services, and updated document and web content management (WCM) functionality.

Version 3.3 also marks the first major release of Alfresco under the LGPL. The company announced that it would be dropping the GPL in favor of the LGPL in late January of this year, stating that it wanted to use a more permissive license. The big difference between the LGPL and GPL is that the LGPL allows proprietary and closed code to be linked to the software. Alfresco CEO John Newton said that the company selected the LGPL licence because it gives "the ability to link in the Alfresco repository without affecting proprietary software that links (to) it".

More details about the release can be found in the release announcement and release notes. Version 3.3 of the Alfresco Community Edition is available to download for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux and is licensed under the LGPL. Installation instructions are also provided.

See also:

• Good business for Alfresco Software, a report from The H.
• Alfresco announce CMIS 1.0 implementation, a report from The H.

(crve)