There's good news on the Joomla 1.6 front! Tonight, the Joomla! Project officially released its RC1 version.  Fifteen beta releases later, Release Candidate #1 is now live, and available for download on Joomla.org. Give it a spin here!

That said, those in the know in the developer community are still recommending you treat this release with a fair dose of caution, almost like this is a "beta 16" version. At least one developer mentioned to me that there are some rather substantive, pesky bugs that remain in the stew.

That said, for now, let's all CELEBRATE the release! Proceed cautiously, as if some orange cones still line the roadway...hell, we're used to that. You may not want to use this RC on a live site. A big THANK YOU goes out to all those who contributed to the release of 1.6RC1! Three CHEERS!!!

Today, the Joomla Project announced the immediate availability of Joomla 1.6 beta 7 (download).  As with all recent releases, it is a beta version and is not intended to run any type of production site. Since the Joomla 1.6 beta 6 release on July 26, the Joomla! team has fixed approximately 85 issues. This progress is directly related to the continued efforts of the Joomla! Bug Squad. The Joomla! Project plans for beta 8 to be released on August 23, 2010.

The Joomla Project is proud to announce the immediate availability of Joomla 1.6 beta 5 (download). IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a beta version and is not intended to run any type of production site. It is intended to be used for evaluation purposes only.

Since the Joomla 1.6 beta 4 release on Jun 28, we have fixed approximately 65 issues in the tracker. Much of this progress is directly related to the stepped up efforts of the Joomla! Bug Squad. Thanks for all your hard work in bringing us one increment closer to stable!

See the CHANGELOG for details of what has been changed in this release.

What's next?

This is the fifth in our series of continuous beta releases. Beta 6 will be released on July 26, 2010.

There is already another security release of Joomla. You may download version 1.5.20 here. This is available immediately. Thanks Joomla!

The Joomla Project is proud to announce the immediate availability of Joomla 1.6 beta 3 (download). IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a beta version and is not intended to run any type of production site. It is intended to be used for evaluation purposes only.

Since the Joomla 1.6 beta 2 release on May 31, we have fixed approximately 102 issues in the tracker. Much of this progress is directly related to the stepped up efforts of the Joomla! Bug Squad. Thanks for all your hard work in bringing us one increment closer to stable! This is the third in Joomla's series of continuous betas. Beta 4 will be released on June 28, 2010.

Download here: http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/joomla/frs/?action=FrsReleaseBrowse&frs_package_id=5276