Last week we had a conf-call with Mike Farman (Alfresco Product Manager) and we got some infos about the web client roadmap:
– First we have mentionned our need for a more user-friendly web UI (better than the JSF client)…
– We told that the new Share UI is a good improvement ; however the problem is that document uploaded through Share are managed in a “Site” structure in Alfresco DM, which is not the expected design (we would like to manage a standard DM structure). Also, Share is not aligned with DM in term of capabilities…
– Mike told us that the current client (JSF based) will still continue to be supported in the long term (no “retirement plan” for this client, still minor enhancement and bug fix supported).
– Also Mike told that:
– In the “middle term” (starting v3.3 to v4.0):
– Alfresco plan is to implement more and more core DM client capabilities into Share.
– The target is to fully align Share capabilities with DM client capabilities.
– Features that are currently under “migration” are advanced worklfow, actions, etc.
– We have mentionned that our biggest priority is to align security management (role, user-group) between DM and Share.
– Long term roadmap (v4.0 or higher ? ; early 2011 ; very rough estimate ; no commitment on this deliver date can be done for the moment):
– Alfresco has a plan to deliver a “Share like UI” on top of DM repository.
– This new UI will be a “Repository view” (currently Share provide a “Site view”).
– So the DM structure will remain unchanged (like “Company Home/MyRootSpace/MyChildSpace),
– The internal name for this project “repository doc lib”.
– This seems to be exactly what we are looking for….but once again : v4.0 or higher ; early 2011 ? ; no commitment on this deliver date….
– Custom web UI implementation:
– If customer is willing to implement a custom web UI, recommendation is clearly to use SURF and webscripts.
– SURF and webscripts are the target for any web UI (used for Share), and will continue to be supported.
Alfresco & Share Blog 