1. This release includes enhanced interactivity (ajax-based). For example all data entry screens are shown as popup dialog on current page.
   
2. Greatly enhaced JavaScript-based scripting. Now JavaScript rules can be added on a class, not only on a property. Functions with names onCreate, afterCreate, onUpdate, afterUpdate will receive control before and after the creation and modification of the resource of this class.
3. New Transaction caching
4. New non-Transaction (shared) caching
5. Various speed optimizations - most notable among them - autoTotals. Autototals calculate totals incrementally without going through resources in database using SQL SUM.
   

Widgets

Modern information systems often puzzle their users with multitude of choices. How to navigate the system? Which direction to take? What does all the information on the screen mean? How do I find what I really need? It may take years to get used to a software product and often only a small subset of its features is ever used.

This release of LablZ UniversalPlatform and Applications aims to face this challenge heads on.
 
How? The one word answer is: Widgets. This release offers Widgets as the new User Interface paradigm. Widget is a small chunk of the screen devoted to one task. Simple, focused and targeted to one function. A set of widgets on one screen form a dashboard. Like in your car you see at a glance how well your business mechanism is operating. But unlike your car, you can have dashboards for everyday use and for weekly meetings with the boss,dashboards for operational stuff and analytics, for desktop use and for Mobiles. So get ready for a treat since all LablZ Application Interfaces in this release were redesigned via the use of Widgets.

Technical highlights. Just do a text search on widget* in our CRM to see the multitude of widget-related features added in this release and the how Widgets made us rethink the UI. Widgets can be bookmarked. Lists of Widget bookmarks are combined into menus, tabs and dashboards - all of which can be changed with the click of a mouse. Even the Vocabulary is now represented as Widget Gallery from which menus are assembled. Many former reports are now automatically enhanced by correlated reports presented in Widget sidebar. This allows novices to discover the parts of the applications that were previously hidden from view. Read up to see how widgets are part of many other improvements in this release.

Blogs

Blogs are a new medium on the Web, drastically changing journalism and redefining global collaboration. As much as Blogs have affected the social landscape, the Enterprises had so far no way to tap into their powers. With this release LablZ presents an Enterprise Blogging capability that brings collaboration to a new level both within the organization and between its partners. Blogging shows all diverse and complex information produced in your Enterprise in one clear and simple chronological view and greatly simplifies submitting feedback.Yet this is not the end, LablZ Blogs usability is further enhanced by its sidebar Widgets.

Technical highlights. Blogging capability was completely integrated into the UniversalPlatform -making it available for all applications that run on it. In essence: any list of resources that is open for collaboration (CollaborationPoint) can now be viewed in a Blog View. Blog view allows to see CRM, SCM resources, such as Issues, Orders, Invoices in a view that shows discussion topic and communications heads up.

Mobile Devices

We all are in the middle of the next tectonic shift in computing. Last time it was the advent of PCs, then the Internet. The change this time is in Mobiles. Mobile phones are rapidly advancing to become the computer people use most of the time, while resorting to desktops only occasionally. As our customer would have expected, LablZ is swimming with the stream of time.

Thus this release adds support for iPhone.

To be accurate, LablZ UniversalPlatform was providing Mobile support for several years now.But until now the complexity of its use was only suitable for the enthusiasts. This release marks a major change. Now any user of LablZ Applications can use them on the go. iPhone user has now his most important business information only 3 clicks away. All Application pages are automatically formatted to fit the iPhone.

To make it even more convenient for Mobile user, LablZ is introducing a Mobile Desktop. Mobile Desktop contains only those items that user specifically designated for use on the go. Mobile Desktop is configured using the Browser on the desktop computer. When user returns to his desktop he can see the same data in expanded view on a bigger screen.

Technical highlights. Two new technical capabilities contributed to an iPhone support in this release: iPhone list view and Widgets. Most lists now have another, more compact "iPhone" view. This applies to both the Dashboards and all resource lists. It also applies to data entry screens. Widgets have turned out to be are a perfect way to present information on next-generation phones, like iPhone. The mobile user will be happy to see his desktop Dashboard Widgets on the mobile device almost unchanged.

Performance

Our customers expect performance improvements in every new release. This release makes major advances in performance. LablZ engineers understand that users not only want pages to load faster, they want the system to do more for them in the same amount of time and with less effort on their part. The performance boost in this release allowed us to do exactly that. Users of this release will see the addition of sidebar Widgets to many LablZ pages. Sidebar widgets intelligently add information related to the main content of the page. Sidebar greatly improves usability for new users. New users do not need to search the system for the information, instead relevant information comes to them. This also makes all LablZ Applications more powerful for advanced users.

Technical highlights. Some performance improvements were possible are due to improvements in our internal algorithms, others are the result of taking advantage of new technologies: even more pervasive use of AJAX technique(resulting in less page repainting): reduced page sizes via more consistent use of CSS; reduced link sizes via adding URL parameters upon user clicks; introduction of tinyURL technology (based on bookmark id); JavaScript techniques, such as Drag And Drop, Copy and Paste; server-side improvements in caching and text-indexing and much much more.

Time management

Businesses are always struggling with time pressures. This UniversalPlatform release allows users to lift much of the pressure off the shoulders of your managers and shift it to LablZ Applications. Let the system organize, keep track of all the business activities, facilitate meetings, streamline order processing, improve production planning and optimize delivery scheduling. Let you be a good guy and let the system bring in line all the laggards who did not comply or did not pay on time.

Technical highlights. Major improvements were made in all types of screens that show resources on a time grid, especially the Schedule grid. Schedule grid acquired better navigation using built-in popup calendars, allows moving items between cells using copy/paste and has improved color coding for packing information more tightly. Time grids (calendars) show all the activities for a certain period or activities related to a certain Event, Workplace, Project, etc. They also show you activities related to a certain person (employee or a customer) or a group of them. In some respect time grids are just lists of resources put on timeline, so you can filter and search the way you did before, but now see the data in a new light.

Scalability, Robustness and Availability

This release brings major improvements in the area of Scalability,Robustness and Availability. It opens access to a greater number of users, increases safety of data and improves the uptime. These improvements were engineered to take advantage of a new hardware base to which many LablZ Applications will be migrated in the future. The new hardware base offers higher network bandwidth, reliable backup storage and on-demand availability of new server machines (we can now bring up a hundred new servers within 30 minutes, should the need arise).

Browser support

For several years now there was only one browser that mattered to the Enterprise - MS Internet Explorer. The picture has changed in 2007 and will change more in the next 2-3 years. iPhone has a powerful Mobile Browser, called Safari. Safari is a default browser on Apple Mac and is a mature and an extremely fast browser. LablZ Mobile Desktop combined with iPhone's revolutionary multi-touch screens makes Web business applications simple now even for new users.

Technical Highlights. Widgets and mobiles place extreme pressure on vendors for supporting a larger variety of browsers. LablZ stood up to the challenge. This release equally supports Opera 9+, Safari 3+, Firefox 2+, IE6, IE7, Konqueror 3.5.3+.On mobiles: Nokia's s60 browser (WebKit-based) and Opera Mobile 8.5+are now supported.

Security

This release presents many advances in making LablZ UniversalPlatform more secure for its users. It makes LablZ UniversalPlatform more open for collaboration yet more secure in the face of increased hacker activity (such as Spam, Viruses and other types of attacks). Major advances in security allowed LablZ to provide more functionality while tightening the defenses against the misuse. For example, users of this release will see the new type of more open multi-organizational workflow, called Enterprise Blogging, which would not work without new security methods introduced in this release.