As some of you may already know, October 1st marks the first step towards the next XBMC official release: soft-freeze for XBMC Eden 11.0. As usual, no new features will be added from now on unless they are considered critical for a proper release deployment. The next step, a hard-freeze, marks the ‘no API changes’ from now on. Looking at XBMC Dharma 10.0 release cycle, we can expect something like 3 to 4 Beta releases, followed by 1 or 2 Release Candidates and finally, scheduled for 12/29/2011, the final release. Again, as usual, do not take this for granted. Remember developers behind XBMC Media Center are volunteers and work on their spare time.
XBMC Eden 11.0 visible changes
Changes included in XBMC Eden 11.0 begin with the default skin. A new version of Confluence with an horizontal menu, the ability to customize the home screen by adding your favorite addons and a new Files view in the video library thus removing the confusing notion of Library Mode vs Files Mode, a recurring complaint from new users. Many changes were operated at the efficiency level aiming the reduction of CPU and GPU usage. The changelog is too complex to expose here but, for the most tech-interested of you, go to XBMC Roadmap and see for yourself. Again, it is only indicative and not all the features presented made it into XBMC Eden 11.0.
Many have noticed that, for some time now, XBMC Eden 11.0 Nightly Builds can be downloaded for iOS devices, namely iPad, iPhone and Apple TV2. That’s one of the great changes coming along with XBMC Eden 11.0: more operating systems, platforms and devices natively supported. Unfortunately, not all is good news. Gnif’s much anticipated AudioEngine Framework and API didn’t made it. It is a very complex task to manage and code and isn’t ready for XBMC Eden 11.0. Don’t worry do! After Eden it will certainly be included in the next XBMC release, codenamed Frodo.
XBMC Eden 11.0 needs help
Making XBMC Eden 11.0 a better software is easy even for the average user. How, you ask? Simple, download a XBMC Eden 11.0 Nightly Build and test it. Go bug hunting and report them. Please, test XBMC Eden 11.0 in a non production environment or make backups of your data first. Better safe than sorry. Know a foreign language? Help translate XBMC Eden 11.0. Every little bit helps. Remember: XBMC Media Center is developed by volunteers and needs all the help it can get.
