Happy St. Patrick's Day! It's one of the most popular celebrations worldwide, and here at xTuple, we're getting in the spirit too. In this issue, we're profiling a terrific (Canadian) customer who just happens to be called St. Patrick's Cabinet Making, a fantastic community member named Patty Davis, and updates on xTuple professional services from the fellow who runs it (who just happens to be named Jim McCluskey).
And did I mention the Lucky Licenses promotion? If you've ever sorted through a field of three-leaf clovers looking for that rare shamrock, then you'll like this one — buy 3, get 1 free! Get it? OK, maybe we worked too hard on that one...
Finally, an update from product development: The latest release, version 4.9.3, is now available, and if you're looking for a solid foundation for the next year or so, this is a good candidate. Lots of improvements to the user interface, bug fixes, and some significant performance improvements as well.
(Sidebar: People often ask us, how often should we upgrade our xTuple software? It really depends on how much you're interested in getting the latest and greatest, and how much time and energy you can devote to pilot testing before the upgrade. Generally, we find that one update per year is about right for most companies — although there are plenty who can't wait to get their hands on the newest release, too! Which brings us to...)
Version 4.10, the first beta release of which is coming any day now
A major new update, including an innovative new visual dashboard engine, significant expansion of VAT support, the Workflow management system in the Desktop client, a mobile inventory solution that runs natively on tablets and phones (not browser-based)... and much, much more! Watch for an announcement from Gil Moskowitz soon... we can't wait to get your feedback on this one.
Pictured: staffers from near and far getting into the "green" spirit of the holiday
Thanks, as always, for your support of the world's #1 open source ERP.
Ned Lilly
In October 2001, Ned co-founded xTuple, originally called OpenMFG, with the aim of bringing the worlds of open platform software and enterprise resource planning (ERP) together to solve the unmet needs of small- to mid-sized manufacturers. In 1999, he was a co-founder of Great Bridge, an early business built around the PostgreSQL database which is also the core technology for xTuple today. Great Bridge was incubated inside Landmark Communications, a mid-sized media company where Ned directed corporate venture investments, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and startup activity. Prior to Landmark, Ned worked for a regional technology group in Washington D.C. and had a brief first career in political media — television, radio and a non-partisan news wire. He holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia and an M.A. from George Washington University.