Calling All Stations: Liferay Community Beta Program

We need your help!

The next release of Liferay Portal - version 6.2 - has been under development for over a year, and many of you have been instrumental in getting new features in, fixing old bugs (and new bugs), and generally improving the quality of each of the prior Milestone releases, and for that you should all be proud (and add your name to the Community Hall of Fame while you're at it!). We've made a lot of progress in terms of release quality and development process, and have exposed it through various avenues, such as the JIRA Development Board, Release Dashboard, Ideas Site, and the ongoing effort to improve the responsiveness to contributions (which we really, really value).

I am excited to announce the latest initiative in our community - the Community Beta Program! This program is kicking off in concert with the first release of Liferay 6.2 Beta, and is continues to serve as yet another way to improve quality. What better way to ensure the next release is suitable for you, than to give it a go and report the good, bad, and the ugly?

The Process

It's simple: sign up for the program, pick the 'tracks' you wish to follow (based on functional areas of Liferay), and then try out the Beta release, making note (in the form of JIRA tickets) of the bugs or confusing aspects of Liferay that you find.

Each track will have a dedicated written guide, and one or more members of Liferay's engineering team dedicated to your success.  The written guide will explain in more detail what is involved in the particular track, so you're not just left to your own devices (though you're free to explore anything you wish!) We will also have an area on liferay.com with a dedicated forum and supporting FAQ on which to collaborate by next week.

Liferay (the company) has a dedicated and awesome QA team that will be heavily involved in this program, and are going to be available for questions, collaboration, and will also be paying particular attention to the Beta team and its findings. If you're willing to try out the Beta, you'll get the attention you deserve.

How to get involved

The program is open to the entire community, all we ask is that you fill out the Beta Program Signup Form, so that we can ensure we get enough coverage in all of the functional areas of the release. We are asking for anyone interested to sign up by August 11 (next Sunday), so that we can kick off the program the following week.

Why should I participate?

Now the good part! Besides the tremendous gratitude you'll get from the Liferay Community (and the Liferay QA, Engineering, and Release teams), there are other benefits:

  • Get a sneak peek at new stuff in Liferay
  • Help us help you ensure that your future migration to the new version will be as smooth as possible
  • Meet and engage with others in our community, including our awesome QA and Engineering teams
  • Get enshrined in the annals of Liferay history (ok, it's just a README embedded in the release, but still..)
  • Get a leg up on the competition for Top Contributor awards
  • SWAG: Everyone loves SWAG. We have some special gifts for those that participate
  • The knowledge that you helped make a difference, gave a little back, and hopefully learn more about yourself and Liferay

So please, if you have some time in the next month to help us make this release the best ever, sign up and be on the lookout for additional communication in the days to come!

For more information about the Beta program, please see the Beta Program Wiki which has additional information about the tracks, and what to expect.

 

Blogs
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1TaqSLssMe1F3XY8HXaxRaajyjpwkJPto45iEMp_fVEc/viewform FYI: This link is not working
San, the form is now closed, but if you're still interested, we'd love to have you join the team! Just email me (james.falkner@liferay.com) and I'll get you sorted.