X-Cart forums

[xplorer]

Hi!

I would like to announce that we have decided to add X-Cart v4.4 to our development plan. The planned release date is April, 2010

Here is a list of planned features:
- All modules will be built-in
- AJAX checkout (for some payment gateways it will be a true one-page checkout)
- Pre-login shipping calculator
- XML sitemap
- E-Mail logins
- Integration with Checkout by Amazon
- Context help
- Zip+4 support
- Accept terms during checkout
- Google Maps for shipping and billing addresses
- Revised payment and shipping modules

It will be based on X-Cart 4.x platform.

X-Cart 4.4 beta will be available in March 2010, I guess.

Thanks!

[cflsystems]

How this will affect v5 development? Can't really see the need of one more release

[pauldodman]

Yes, have to ask why?
People are already in an awful pickle trying to decide whether to go to 4.3 or wait until v5 - this could really create some conundrums.

[exsecror]

In my opinion you guys really should not bother writing another minor release for the 4.x branch. As it is 4.3 has numerous post-release bugs that should have been caught during Unit/Acceptance testing that weren't and the very fact the release along with the announcement of 5.0 has created some serious confusion amongst the community. Whatever plans you have for 4.4 should be merged into the 5.0 branch and worked on from there and either fix the major post-release bugs with 4.3 or scrap the tree and focus the entire development on 5.0.

[cherie]

The debate over version numbers is an old one. My bigger concern is improving the upgrade path, making it easier to move to the next version, whatever number you give it.

[Dongan]

I can see that the features highlighted here closely matching with another product. May it be a business win-win move? Because, these are the features missed out in the current releases (expected by many people 2 years back) mainly at customer end. I thought these features will be well covered in V5. now confusing more esp in making decisions. What suggestions we can give/propose to x-cart customers? Do we have to stop all development & wait until we see a stable release? The customer who spends money on customizations definitely will not be willing to spend more in short span of time to upgrade to the next version. They may have only two choices

1. Wait for 3-6 months to see a stable release. then, start development

OR

2. Start the development with basic design elements (not much customization), assure that it is upgradable easily & cost effective. Upgrade to the latest version in 6 months time.

Obviously, no one is willing to spend more money unless the business is returning more. Since most of the x-cart customers are low-medium sized, they can't afford to allocate budgets every 6 months (few exceptional cases).

Lets wait to hear from others!

[exsecror]

Originally Posted by cherie

The debate over version numbers is an old one. My bigger concern is improving the upgrade path, making it easier to move to the next version, whatever number you give it.

Except this debate really isn't over trivial numbers. It's about the responsible development of X-Cart and the fact that it's being forked in too many directions rather than being focused where it should be on releases. The releases 4.3 (and possible upcoming 4.4) should have never happened, development should have been solely focused on 5.0 to reduce the strain on resources of the team from having to maintain too many branches and forks of the code.

[Zaja]

Originally Posted by exsecror

Except this debate really isn't over trivial numbers. It's about the responsible development of X-Cart and the fact that it's being forked in too many directions rather than being focused where it should be on releases. The releases 4.3 (and possible upcoming 4.4) should have never happened, development should have been solely focused on 5.0 to reduce the strain on resources of the team from having to maintain too many branches and forks of the code.

I agree. Also, with an incredible number of changes in the files, from one version to another, third party developers life became a nightmare.

[pauldodman]

third party developers life became a nightmare

Absolutely, there's precious few mods ready for 4.3 as it is - I'm sure most developers are considering early retirement following this news!

[Dongan]

Originally Posted by pauldodman

Absolutely, there's precious few mods ready for 4.3 as it is - I'm sure most developers are considering early retirement following this news!

count me too.