[AG-USERS] Access Grid 3.0 beta1 available !

[Thomas D. Uram]

The Access Grid 3.0 beta1 software is available for download at:

   http://www.mcs.anl.gov/fl/research/accessgrid/software/releases/3.0-beta1

Note: This version of the software is not compatible with the current AG2 software;
see important notes at the end of this email for more specifics.

This release is built on standard Internet technologies with the intent of
bringing greater stability, performance, and interoperability.  This shift,
and improvements from lessons learned in AG2, combine to make AG3
a well-rounded basis for collaborative software development going
forward.  We would welcome your contributions to the future of the
AccessGrid software in the following areas:

- Core development
- Testing and bug reporting
- Bug fixing
- Documentation

If you're interested in contributing, please let us know at ag-info at mcs.anl.gov.
Many thanks to those who have already contributed in these and other areas.

Features of this release include:

- Jabber client integration (thanks to LBNL)
- Integrated meeting schedule viewer
- Improved venue navigation
    - View all Venues on server, exits from current Venue, or MyVenues
    - Tree-based perusal of Venue space (without entering)
- VenueClient user preferences
- Certificate not required by VenueClient
- Improved control of media tools through VenueClient
- Multicast indicator on VenueClient
- Integrated per-Venue Multicast Beacon client
- Integrated beacon matrix
- New bridging facility (available in any venue)
- Encrypted network communications throughout
- Simplified node configuration through discovery of
    node services and service managers
- RAT:  silence suppression off by default
- VIC:  stale streams time out and are removed
- Windows WDM capture device support, enabling
    use of capture cards with new style drivers (e.g. Winnov,
    iTuner) (thanks to UCL)

For the technically curious:

- More interoperable SOAP implementation (thanks to LBNL
    and the pywebsvcs project)
- FTPS-based file transfer


The software ships pointing at the test AG3 VenueServer here
at Argonne National Laboratory; the URL of the VenueServer
lobby is:

    https://vv3.mcs.anl.gov:8000/Venues/default

Note that this is beta software, intended for testing rather than production
use.  As always, user feedback is welcome. Please file bug reports,
feature requests, or enhancements via the Access Grid Bugzilla
page ( http://bugzilla.mcs.anl.gov/accessgrid ).

DOCUMENTATION
Documentation has not been updated for this release.  Work on
the documentation will proceed following the beta release.

NO INTEROPERABILITY
The AG3 software is not in any way compatible with the AG2 software.
No combination of AG2 and AG3 clients and servers will work together.

COEXISTENCE
The AG3 installers have been built to allow AG2 and AG3 to be installed
on a single machine without conflicting with each other.  This means
that users should be able to install AG3 on machines where they have
AG2 installed, and use either one.


Thanks,

The Access Grid team
Argonne National Laboratory/University of Chicago