7 reasons you should upgrade to Sitefinity 4.2

I’m delighted to announce that Sitefinity 4.2 is now available for download.  This is a really big release for us.  This is certainly evidenced by the lengthy release notes, but this release represents more than the sum of its parts.  I’m not going to cover every individual item in this release.  Instead, I’ll quickly tick through a few of the highlights.

#1 - Sitefinity 4.2 is rock-solid

Releasing new code into the wild is always nerve-wracking.  There is always the perpetual feeling that we could do more with a few more hour of polish.  However, our internal processes are as rigorous as ever and this release contains a massive number of improvements.

In addition, we’ve been testing this release with select partners and customers (using real-world projects) for weeks.  This feedback has been invaluable and helped produce our most battle-tested release to date.

#2 - Sitefinity 4.2 is faster…a lot faster

We do a lot of testing related to speed and we’re constantly introducing incremental performance boosts.  However, Sitefinity 4.2 includes a revamped caching engine, sitemap improvements and heavily optimized database queries.  All of this results in a substantial and noticeable increase in the backend performance of Sitefinity.  

#3 - Sitefinity 4.2 includes Ecommerce functionality

We had a full webinar devoted to this Sitefinity’s ecommerce functionality.  This is simply version 1 of this module, but the feature set is already impressive.  Be sure to checkout our Ecommerce Benefits page and the Ecommerce webinar for more information.

#4 - Sitefinity 4.2 can now store files on the filesystem

This is primarily valuable for customers who are working with limited database storage capacity.  Sitefinity 4.2 includes a File-Based Library Provider.  This enables you to store images, documents, videos, etc. on the file system instead of the database.  This can vastly reduce the amount of database storage space required by your web site.

#5 - Sitefinity 4.2 includes the ability to easily import templates

This feature will be used in conjunction with the Template Builder (which we’re in the midst of launching through a game).  Speaking as someone who is design-challenged I’m greatly anticipating the ability to easily utilize templates designed by the community.

#6 - Sitefinity 4.2 includes more filter options for your RSS feeds

Sitefinity 4 has always contained a rich set of taxonomies for classifying your content.  However, I’m delighted to see new ways to use these classifications to produce tailored RSS feeds. 

#7 - Sitefinity 4.2 takes upgrading very seriously

Georgi Chokov posted a few weeks about the Sitefinity 3.x Migration Tool which is now included in Sitefinity 4.2  This release contains an BETA release of this tool.  Consider this phase 1 in an extended campaign.  We’re nowhere near done.  Our goal is to help our Sitefinity 3.x customers get moved to the new platform. 

And for our Sitefinity 4.x customers, keeping the web site upgraded should be relatively easy.  If you’re coming from any version of Sitefinity 4.1 then follow the normal upgrade instructions.  Otherwise, you should upgrade by way of Sitefinity 4.1 (4.0 –> 4.1 –> 4.2).

Expect many more improvements to come on this front.

And much more…

I know I’m missing a lot.  I would encourage everyone to spend some time with the release notes.  After that, download Sitefinity 4.2 and post your impressions to Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus.  As always, we look forward to seeing your reactions.