[ome-devel] OME 2.2.1 Release announcement

[Ilya Goldberg]

Dear OME fans:
We have released OME 2.2.1-server which is available here:
http://cvs.openmicroscopy.org.uk/snapshots/stable.tar.gz

This is a patch release that fixes several bugs and includes a few new 
features.  The area with the most improvement is the installer, 
directly resulting from the feedback we received from those of you who 
had installation problems.
* Installer:
	- Much more robust (esp. permission problems).
	- Includes installation of periodic maintenance tasks (cron jobs)
	- Several system checks to ensure functionality.
	- Automatic upgrade mode (will automatically upgrade from 2.2.0 
release).
	- Much more verbose explanations about what its going to do, and 
possible reasons for failure.
* Command line super-tool for administration, etc: 'ome'
	- Interactive addition and editing of new users and groups
	- Database+repository backup and restore
	- Import, Chain execution, and monitoring active tasks
	- Comes with help system.  Type "ome help" at the unix prompt after 
install.
* Search interface for adding Images to Datasets, and other Web UI 
improvements.
* Fixed several problems with importing TIFF files, including RGB and 
packed 12-bit TIFFs.
* Fixed STK importer to better deal with Z/T dimensions.
* Many other bug fixes (close to 200).
* Restructuring and many additions to the OME website 
(http://openmicroscopy.org).

The theme for this patch release is "Installation", and for the next 
patch release it will be "Import".  Specifically, this will include new 
importers for BioRad PIC, LSM-510 and DICOM, and a more general way of 
specifying how to combine collections of files into single 5-D images.  
Other areas undergoing enhancement are optimizations in the remote 
framework, enhancements to the Web UI, and of course more bug fixing.  
Most of this functionality is already undergoing testing in the main 
branch, so we expect the next patch release rather soon.

We are grateful to all of you who provided us with feedback on 
installation issues, and we have listened!  Please continue to use our 
bugzilla for reporting problems:
http://bugs.openmicroscopy.org.uk/

Thank You
The OME Development Team