JADE Release Schedule updated

[Dino]

The JADE Release Schedule on our web site has been updated to show the release dates through until July 2013:

http://www.jade.co.nz/jade/updates.htm#releasesched

Dean.

@CooperDino

[ghosttie]

How about a roadmap?

[Dino]

Apologies, the Roadmap PDF on the web site not being updated yet is my bad; the buck stops with me on that one. I'll get it done. But in the interim, here's a summary of the JADE 7 release.

SCHEDULE

• Alpha release –- available now on request
• Beta release –- end of May 2011
• General release –- end of August 2011

PERFORMANCE AND SCALABILITY FEATURES

• Database direct I/O –- eliminates Windows file system cache
• JOM cache, mutex and lock optimisations –- run more processes in a node
• Larger database file index blocks
• RPC mutex optimisations and larger buffer sizes

OTHER FEATURES

• Silverlight thin client –- both "classic" and new stateless versions; beta available from JADE 6.3.7 on request
• Database file encryption
• WS-Security support
• .NET Class Library API enhancements
• IPv6 support

OTHER CHANGES

• Nodes that host a database will be 64-bit only. This includes single-user environments and single-user application server nodes.
• Object instance IDs will be 64-bit only. Note that this does not affect class IDs or the number of classes that are available in an environment.
• The ActiveX exposure feature will not be available from JADE 7. The ActiveX exposure enables you to expose selected features of your JADE system to other application development tools such as Visual Basic and C++ through ActiveX technologies. JADE implements ActiveX generation through the wizard feature of Microsoft’s Visual Studio 6. However, this product is no longer supported by Microsoft. In addition, new users of JADE may be unable to source a copy of Visual Studio 6. In recent years, ActiveX technologies have been replaced by .NET. From JADE 6.3, you can now generate exposures using these .NET technologies. This provides a more modern, flexible, and easier to develop mechanism than that provided by ActiveX. It is recommended that, where required, you re-write ActiveX exposures using the new JADE .NET exposure.
• JADE 7 is built using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, which will require the installation of appropriate C++ runtime binaries. For a level of backwards compatibility, system administrators will be able to choose to support 32-bit thin clients using the same (Visual Studio 2005) C++ runtime binaries currently required by JADE 6.3.7 and 6.3.8.
• The JADE Dump and Load utility (jddlutl) will not be available in JADE 7.
• The JADE interface for the Rational Rose modeling tool will not be available in JADE 7. If you want to use third-party design tools (e.g. Enterprise Architect), you can use the JADE XMI interface to import the model into your JADE environment.

OPERATING SYSTEMS

• JADE 7 thin clients will require Windows XP Professional with SP3, or a later Windows version
• Server and client nodes on JADE 7 will require Windows NT6 or later (Vista or Server 2008 R1, or later)
• Nodes that host a database in JADE 7 will require a 64-bit operating system. As well as database server nodes, this includes single-user environments and single-user application server nodes.
• For client nodes, the default configuration also requires 64-bit binaries. However, if 32-bit client nodes are required (e.g. to allow for the use of 32-bit third-party DLLs), these can be used with some loss of performance and functionality.
• JADE 7 supports Windows only, which means that from JADE 7, Linux distributions (for both Red Hat and SUSE) will no longer be available. We will continue to support customers running JADE 6.3 on Linux until at least April 2014.

Please email jadesupport@jadeworld.com if you'd like a copy of the JADE 7 alpha or beta release, or the Silverlight thin client beta release.

Dean.

@CooperDino

[murray]

Hi Dean,

Can you please post some more details about the 64-bit Object instance ID's.
Are they new in Jade 7? Do 32-bit instance ID's need to be converted to 64-bit?

[Dino]

Yes, 64-bit instance IDs are new in JADE 7, but there's nothing that you need to do in terms of your applications. The current 32-bit instance ID values of your objects will be converted automatically to the same 64-bit instance ID values as part of the JADE 7 upgrade process.

Dean.

@CooperDino

[Dino]

A minor correction to the JADE 7 schedule. The beta release will actually be in mid-June now. We had to move it by a couple of weeks due to the earthquake disruption.

Dean.

@CooperDino

[Dino]

We've had a few questions about the ActiveX exposure bullet in "Other Changes" above so this post is to clarify things.

While the ActiveX exposure feature is being removed in JADE 7, this does not affect your ability to import ActiveX controls. You will still be able to import and use ActiveX controls in your JADE 7 systems.

Dean.

@CooperDino

[Dino]

An updated JADE Roadmap is available at:

http://www.jade.co.nz/downloads/jade/JADE_Roadmap.pdf

The JADE 7.0 general release will now be in September this year.

Dean.

@CooperDino