November 1, 2009
ExpressionEngine 2.0 is On Its Way
by Mark J. Reeves
The European ExpressionEngine CodeIgniter Conference—eeci 2009—took place October 22-23. While we weren't able to fly to The Netherlands to attend, we did follow posts from our peers and are really excited by all the buzz that's been generated about the next version of EE and some of our favorite tools.
ExpressionEngine 2.0
The long-awaited, next major version of ExpressionEngine, v2.0, will be officially released on December 1, 2009. This is huge news. EE 2.0 has been in development for a very, very long time. The team resisted rushing against a promised date and focused instead on working toward a thoroughly complete, worthwhile release. We've had access to, and installed, the beta and can say that it shows. The platform has been reworked and built off of EllisLab's CodeIgniter framework, which we've used in the past for custom application development. For our clients & end-users, ExpressionEngine 2.0 means:
- An enhanced Control Panel with quicker access to most-used functions and features
- More robust entry & editing tools, including a system-wide File Manager and robust image editing tools
- CodeIgniter at the core, enhancing our ability to deliver custom solutions for you
- Integration of powerful components, like Brandon Kelly's FieldFrame extension
Pricing
We've always touted ExpressionEngine's license fee as quite reasonable for the value it delivers, and that continues to be true. EE 2.0 comes with a modest price bump ($299 vs. $249, $149 vs. $99 for non-profits*) that is fully justifiable.
What about current ExpressionEngine sites?
Your site is probably running ExpressionEngine v1.6.x, which EllisLab will continue to support and release patches and updates for as necessary. If we're building your site with EE 1.6.8 right now, we can upgrade your site down the road for the EE upgrade fee ($50) and time spent. As we've been saying through the EE 2.0 development cycle, ExpressionEngine 1.6.8 is an incredibly solid and robust solution and we're comfortable deploying our clients' sites on it. If your site is about to launch, short of EE 2.0's release, you're still in a great place with a great product.
If you're coming on board with a new site after December 1, we'll be ready to work with you using the latest & greatest ExpressionEngine release.
* Prices are for 1 ExpressionEngine license. Yearly subscriptions are available for access to the latest updates and releases, though we don't always find those necessary. Find out more in the ExpressionEngine Store.