The year has almost ended...

... and it was a very good year! At the end of the year it's always nice to sit down for a minute and look back at what we have accomplished as a company and a community. 2008 has been a successful year for GX and we took some big steps in proving that we're a real product company and that we have the best web content management system in the world!

YOU as a partner, developer or customer have proved that you can use GX WebManager to do successful projects. The list of websites that run on GX WebManager has become a lot longer this year and I like the fact that it contains a very nice mixture of small websites and corporate websites. This means GX WebManager can be used for any website, small or large, simple or complex.

GX WebManager has become a lot more open and stable during 2008. Number of reported issues and bugs is 70% lower in absolute and relative numbers. The overall perception of quality is much higher, as customers, partners and developers tell us.

We released four big releases this year. In fact we released 5 versions because in March we also released our free Community Edition! All new functionality is driven by a formal roadmap and during the year we have proved that the roadmap was much more than a paper promise. We delivered almost all functionality that was promised in the very first roadmap in April....plus much more! Feedback about the roadmap from customers and developers was very positive and the feedback to the roadmap really helps us to focus on what's hot and what's not. So please please please continue providing feedback in 2009!

Most customers did one or more upgrades this year. This is really important because one of the main requirements when we built GX WebManager 9 was that upgrades had to be easy and predictable. As you know this is accomplished by a enforcing  a strict separation between platform, content and functionality (WCBs). Even complex installations with thousands of pages and much functionality were upgraded to newer versions successfully. For customers this meant less bugs, better performance and more functionality after every upgrade. So it's well worth it!

From a product company you can expect continuous innovation. A lot of innovation happens in projects and pops up on WCMexchange.com, in press releases or when our customers or partners win awards. Some personal highlights in terms in innovation, in random order:

• 'Zen garden' styling as used by Dutch broadcasters SBS6 and Net5. Result: 400% faster time to market for new programs.
• The integration between GX WebManager as a product, the community edition as an SDK, GX Developerweb and WCMexchange as a component directory, marketplace and distribution model.
• Google Analytics integration in the edit environment. Read stats from Google Analytics where you need them: next to pages. Picked up by the international press
• The KPN vandaag website. Customizable, personalized and very well integrated with many 3rd party content providers.
• The many smart & useful WCBs that have been developed over the year. I still find it amazing what some people can do with WCBs!
• Mobile Web Support. Create mobile websites easily, including device recognition and content adaption. You'll hear a lot more from this in 2009!

So what is going to happen next year? Well, we're busy finalizing the plans for 2009, but one thing is for sure: 2009 will be the year of Traffic & Conversion. The focus will be totally on getting visitors to 'convert' on your website. For some customers this means lead generation, for other customers this means more registered users or more sales from the webshop. Our promise to you is that we provide the product and the tools to optimize your traffic & conversion. How? Just wait a few weeks and keep watching our websites!

Happy holidays, all the best & see you in 2009!

Martin