Say hello to RadControls Prometheus Futures

I am glad to announce that we have just released a "Futures" version of RadControls Prometheus. Why "Futures"? I will tell you in detail below, but those of you who are anxious to get their hands on the latest release, can download it from here: http://www.telerik.com/community/forums/thread/b311D-mhkha.aspx

What's new in the "Futures" release?

• The highly anticipated RadScheduler. Those of you who had the chance to visit our TechEd booth may have already seen it. For those who haven't - here is a link to the online examples: http://www.telerik.com/demos/aspnet/prometheus-futures/Scheduler/Examples/Default/DefaultCS.aspx
  Key features:
• Day, Week and Month View
• Inline and Advanced editing of appointments
• Custom resources
• Recurring appointments
• Rich client-side behavior

• The new installment of RadChart - check the demos at http://www.telerik.com/demos/aspnet/prometheus-futures/Chart/Examples/SplineArea/DefaultCS.aspx
  It includes:
• New rendering engine which performs better and renders nicer images
• Spline curve areas
• Empty values approximation - if your data is missing a value RadChart will approximate it for you
• Scale breaks
• Intelligent labels
• Marked Zones

So what’s the purpose of the "Futures" release? It’s a new thing in our release process, but those of you who have been working with Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX are more or less familiar with the concept. The goal of the Prometheus "Futures" releases is to provide customers with early previews of everything we do so that you can guys can comment whether we are going in the right direction and report any issues that you notice early in the development cycle.

I would like to make a note that the "Futures" releases are preview builds and we don’t recommend using them in production. The bits are still in the development and QA phase so don’t get frustrated if you spot a bug or two or find some missing features. Please send us your feedback and will do everything we can to add the missing features and to fix outstanding issues before the bits are officially released.

"Futures" builds are separate from the Go-live Beta builds of RadControls "Prometheus" and they are available only as a trial. As we’ve previously mentioned, the controls that are with a Go-live status come with a developer build and are ready for use in production despite the Beta tag (which just signifies our new development approach and the fact that the "Prometheus" suite is yet incomplete). Once a control is ready for prime time, we will move it from the Futures build to the Go-live one. Essentially this means that the new Scheduler and Chart should make the transition in September. Once they are moved from the Futures and join the existing controls with Go-live licenses, their release cycle will be the way you know them: 3 releases per year, service packs, etc. Until September, they will be offered only in trial version, though, so if you would like to use them in production before that time, just let us know.

We plan to regularly update the "Futures" as we march along towards the September Q2 release, and we will be adding the RadEditor and RadWindow in a few weeks time. Your feedback will be highly appreciated - after all that’s one of the main ideas behind RadControls Prometheus "Futures". Don't hesitate to drop us a line in our beta forums: http://www.telerik.com/community/forums/allthreads/b312H-ccm.aspx