ActiveX version:

- Fixed memory leak during thumbnails generation.

Java version:

- Support for Java SE 6 update 1.

- Image Uploader Java now preserves resolutions in thumbnails. It means that if you have a 300dpi image and generate a thumbnail before upload, the thumbnails will have 300dpi resolution after the upload.

- Image Uploader Java now supports basic and NTLM authentications.

27 Oct 2008 Sun released new Java SE 6 update 10. We downloaded this new version and ran Image Uploader regression tests on new Java machine. Tests eliminated that out last 5.5.6 version had problems with events under new Java SE. We found and fixed this problem in several days, and this fix will be the major one in new Image Uploader 5.7 which will be available on the site in several days.

In addition to the problem with new Java SE Image Uploader 5.7 will include 17 bug fixes. The most important are:

1. Fixed memory leak during thumbnails generation in ActiveX version.
2. Now Image Uploader Java preserves resolutions in thumbnails. It means that if you have 300dpi image and generate a thumbnail before upload, the thumbnails will have 300dpi resolution after upload.
3. Now Image Uploader Java supports basic and NTLM authentications.

In the Internet Explorer 8 developers’ blog I found very interesting post IE8 Security Part II: ActiveX Improvements. This post gives the outlook on security approaches and improvements in new Internet Explorer. The most important thing I found was Non-Admin ActiveX. This technology allows installing ActiveX controls not having administrator privileges. The only limitation is that you need to run IE8 under Windows Vista.

I was really interested in this feature and decided to dig into it. I found the documentation on Non-Admin ActiveX feature and created ImageUploader5.cab in accordance with their suggestions. After that I took clear Windows Vista SP1 virtual machine, downloaded the latest IE8 Beta2, and installed it. Then I created small sample page and installed updated cab file on this page. After that I created new user without administrative privileges in Vista and logged in under this user. I launched IE8 and opened my sample page from our internal test server… and it worked. IE8 asked me whether I trusted Image Uploader and then allowed to install Image Uploader. It worked like a charm.

So now Microsoft users have the ability to install ActiveX controls without administrative permissions and Microsoft treats this as safe. Upcoming Image Uploader 6 will be compatible with Non-Admin ActiveX IE8 feature.

We are working hard over new Image Uploader 6.0 release. In the next version we have focused on stability, end-user and developer usability, as well as on adding some new features to be in trend of all modern technologies and approaches like cloud computing and Web 2.0.

Not taking into consideration the major improvements, version 6.0 will be backward compatible with all 2.x-5.x versions. We plan to release new version in the beginning of 2009, however, the final ETA is not defined yet.

Here is the general concept of version 6.0 architecture. We will post the detailed descriptions of all the new features and improvements later.

Client

On client side we will implement new features as well as provide bug fixes for core ActiveX control and Java applet. Moreover, we will gracefully improve iuembed.js script which is actually named Helper IUEmbed JavaScript Library :). It consists of the following scripts:

• iuembed.js provides general cross-browser Image Uploader embedding on page. It has multiple improvements to reduce possible errors and simplify coding. It also comes with iuembed.Intellisense.js script which adds Intellicense support in Visual Studio 2008 IDE.
• iuembed.InstallationProgress.js improves ActiveX control installation process. During control loading it will show installation progress. If it is necessary or if control installation failed the script will display user instructions. The script also will handle all different ActiveX control installation processes in various Internet Explorer versions.
• iuembed.AmazonS3.js and iuembed.Nirvanix.js add support of Amazon S3 and Nirvanix cloud storages. They provide the way to upload files from browser directly to cloud storage and noticeably decrease the load on server, as well as provide the way for unlimited scalability.

Server

The main improvement on server side is adding upload support not only for common web server but and for cloud storages. Most probably we will also provide samples of using Image Uploader with common cloud computing services like Google App Engine.

Helper Server Libraries

In order to simplify user development and provide lower learning curve for ASP.NET and PHP developer, we plan to release ASP.NET Control and PHP Library. In this case, users can use familiar development approaches and quickly implement common tasks.