To Dev or not to Dev

The first exciting bit of Development news I have is that Telligent, the makers of Community Server, has released the next generations of their server software called Community Server 2007. The new version sports a new skinning mechanism called Chameleon, improved performance, new forum and blogging features as well as the normal bells and whistles associated with new ASP.Net applications. They have also brought out new licensing options, including an Express Edition with restricted features however it is still free. Find out more about the software here.

On the SA Developer front we have had brilliant responses to the KZN series of events held in the last few months, with a consistent average attendance rate of 15 people. I am excited by this and hope to expand the number of events soon, along with some talks with the Sponsors regarding some different and more involved events and socials. Five regular members of SA Developer was also promoted to Moderators, including myself. Congratulations to everyone involved. Since SA Developer is a non profit web site, with no income streams, everyone involved is giving there time free of charge, and it is great to see the response from so many different individual in ensuring the site grows and continues to provide information to the Developer community in South Africa.

Microsoft also recently launched the Community Distribution project which makes content and products available to communities who do not have access to huge bandwidth. These distributions are sent out to distribution points in various EU countries and then distributed to the public. I am glad to see so many local SA Developer members having offered up their time to act as a distribution point for this. More information about the program is available here with a list of distribution agents available here.