Time once again for a quick update on Rumpus...

Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

As you probably know, Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) is scheduled to be released Friday, October 26th. I am currently evaluating Leopard to see if any of the new technologies it offers can be leveraged in Rumpus, but the first order of business is to make sure existing servers continue running perfectly if and when you decide to upgrade your server's OS.

Rumpus 5.3.2, released just yesterday, is required to run OS X 10.5. If you decide to upgrade your server OS to 10.5, please be sure to upgrade to the latest release of Rumpus first! Rumpus 5.3.2 runs fine on OS X 10.3.9 and 10.4.X, so it is safe to upgrade your Rumpus software at any time. If and when you move to OS X 10.5, Rumpus will then continue to run without interruption. As always, the current Rumpus package can be downloaded from:

http://www.maxum.com/Rumpus/DownloadADemo.html

The upgrade to version 5.3.X is free for anyone that purchased a Rumpus license in 2006 or 2007. For details, visit:

http://www.maxum.com/Rumpus/Upgrading.html

WebDAV

With the introduction of version 5.3, Rumpus now supports WebDAV, in addition to FTP and Web file transfers. Put simply, WebDAV is essentially another file transfer protocol... A competitor to FTP. WebDAV has a couple of advantages over FTP, though. It is a simpler protocol that doesn't require extra data connections (which can be denied by firewalls) and enjoys a single, consistently supported encryption method (SSL) for more reliable secure transfer support. Most importantly, it is supported directly by the Mac OS Finder, making it easy for any Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later user to mount your Rumpus server right on their desktop, like any other shared volume.

To mount a Rumpus 5.3 server on your desktop, just use the "Connect To Server..." function and enter the exact same URL that you would use in a Web browser to connect to the Rumpus Web interface. The "http://" portion is important, so the connection URL will look something like "http://files.yourserver.com/". The Finder will prompt you for your user account name and password, and your Rumpus content area will be mounted right on the desktop. You can then open, save, copy, move and delete files just as you would on your hard drive.

For complete details, see the "WebDAV" article in the Rumpus 5.3 package, and also available on-line at:

http://www.maxumdev.com/HelpfulInfo/WebDAV.pdf

Uploader Applet & More

Probably the single most commonly requested feature I've been asked for in the past year is the ability to drag and drop multiple files or entire folders to upload them via the Web File Manager. As of version 5.3, this is possible using the Drag & Drop Uploader applet. There are some restrictions, mainly due to the fact that in order to do this we had to develop a Java applet which runs within the client Web browser, but for users that need to upload lots of files via the WFM, the new feature works great. More information can be found in the "Drag & Drop Uploads" section (page 12) of the Web File Manager article in the Rumpus package and on-line at:

http://www.maxumdev.com/HelpfulInfo/Web File Manager.pdf

Other improvements in version 5.3 include additional security checks, more Web server customization options, and support for Danish. (OK, that last one might not matter to most of us, but for people in Denmark, it's *huge*!)

Now that version 5.3 is done, work inevitably turns to the next release, version 6. As always, I prefer not to get into too much detail about future versions, especially this early in the development cycle. However, I can say that we are working to improve the whole Rumpus experience, both for your customers, through more improvements in the external look and feel of the WFM interface, and you, through new features to monitor and manage your server. If you have suggestions, please send them to me at "support@maxum.com", or join the Rumpus-Talk discussion group using the form here:

http://www.maxum.com/Rumpus/MailingList.html

Until next time, I hope that Rumpus continues to serve you well, and I thank you for your support.

John O'Fallon
Maxum Development