With about 2000 systems running the 2.9 beta we can confidently say that progress has been great as has its stability! Because we had some pretty fundamental changes in the underlying framework I've been approaching the transition from beta to a release candidate very cautiously even though most signs have pointed to a very stable release. Well all signs point that it's time for the bump so I'll discuss that below.
2.9 Status
As mentioned, we are at just about 2000 beta testers at the time of this writing, which is always a good confidence factor that things are going really well. To put that in perspective, you may have seen press releases and other information from various commercial Asterisk based PBX systems in the past. It’s not uncommon to see numbers of this order of magnitude constitute their entire installed base of systems; for us, it is simply a very small percentage of our installed base, those brave and very helpful users who are willing to take the small risks necessary to help flush out the final issues and make our new releases hit the mainstream! It’s also why FreePBX has such a fantastic reputation not just amongst Asterisk based PBX systems but against a good portion of the PBX market in general!
The 2.9 Milestone currently has 550 of 559 tickets closed against it, WOW! That’s a lot of great work and when you start digging down into it, a LOT of great features big and small that has been incorporated into it. I’ve let the beta phase go a bit longer as there was a handful of hard to track down bugs that we encountered as part of the upgrade process. Given the fundamental changes in the Framework I’ve approached this very cautiously to make sure we really understood if there were still issues to be worked out or not. Well after spending a lot of time investigating these issues, they have all been resolved down to standard everyday ‘bugs’ that occur any time there is change. That means that the confidence is there with 2.9 that it is ready for release so we will be upgrading it to a release candidate over the next few days if not sooner!
FreePBX Training?
With all that is new, maybe now is the time to consider coming to our next FreePBX Open Telephony Training Seminar (OTTS) being held May 10-12 (or 10-13 if you opt for the FreePBX Call Centers section as well). The registrations have already started coming in and the class size is somewhat limited so if you are thinking of joining us, make sure to have a look and see about reserving your place in the class. Not only do these classes present a fantastic learning experience but the networking opportunities are often invaluable as I know many of our past participants have voiced many times! I am also aware of at least one long time community member and past OTTS participant who is planning on joining us again this time!
For now, the weekend is fast approaching and it’s time to prepare for the upgrade from beta to release candidate so keep that feedback coming in and keep that testing strong! We’ll be back soon and before you know it we’ll see a few of you lucky ones in Cleveland, OH for OTTS! And speaking of live appearances, if any of you will be at the upcoming Atlanta Asterisk Users Group next month, I’ll also see you there as I will be coming and talking about something! (hmm … don’t tell them that my presentation isn’t done and finished, I promised to have it to them by the night before, but isn’t that what coast to coast plane rides are for 
Philippe On behalf of the FreePBX Team!