Wow! It’s only taken 18 months but it seems like a lifetime! We’ve just uploaded the production ready release of PaperCut NG 6.0. We still have a long list of TODO/Wishlist items and will now start working on these for the 6.1 release. PaperCut Quota users can also expect a 5.3 release with some new features.

As always, a BIG thanks to all the people that helped with the testing. I know a number of the network admins testing PaperCut NG took a few risks deploying the Beta on some very large production networks! Fortunately any show-stopper bugs we tracked down quickly and fixes issued in a few hours. The real-life stress testing help out great so thanks again to all the testers.

For those people new to PaperCut and interested in what we’ve been doing with PaperCut NG, I recommend taking a look at the product tour. These also include some cool animated demos. I’ll sure you’ll see more of these types of demos in the future as there a fantastic way to document some of the more “complicated” processes.

Please keep an eye on this web log over the next few weeks as I’ll be give my spin on my favourite new features in PaperCut NG.

It’s been a while since my last entry. Now that our PaperCut NG application is out from under wraps I can start writing a little bit more out this work. PaperCut NG is a substantial development at PaperCut Software and has been the focus of our efforts for over 12-months. PaperCut NG is packed full of new features, however I believe the most important change is the bits you can’t seen – that is the new application internals. PaperCut NG now incorporates a framework and design utilizing the latest technologies and software development methodologies. These include:

• Service Oriented Architecture
• Utilization of XML web services
• Layered design to facilitate strong security, reliability and scalability

The new framework will allow us to:

• Add new features faster
• Support all major operating systems including Windows, Mac, Linux and Unix
• Scale to the largest of sites.

The objective for the PaperCut NG 6.0 release was to match the PaperCut Quota feature and enhance in the areas of:

• Web based administration
• Shared accounts
• Support for Mac and Linux workstations

We’ve achieved all this and our very close to final release. We expect to have PaperCut NG 6.0 final out in the first week of October. If you’re itching to try it out now, consider signing up for our beta test program.

Over the next few weeks I’ll write up some more web log entries covering some of the new features and design decisions.