Alexis and Paul have updated the GlassFish Release Feature Table that compares GlassFish v2, v3 Prelude and v3 Preview. My shortened summary is still applicable: v2.1 is for production deployments, v3 Preview is a beta for v3 final and v3 Prelude is/was a transitional release...

Alexis has a nice summary of the different GlassFish releases, explaining how to Choose the Right Release: GlassFish v2.1, GlassFish v3 Prelude or GlassFish v3 Preview. In a nutshell, v2.1 is for production deployments, v3 Preview is a beta for v3 final and v3 Prelude is/was a transitional release... ... but you want the full story, so check Alexis' Answers... ... or just ask Ask the Magic 8 Ball :-)

Last week I pointed to the localization of the GF v3 Prelude Web Pages and now Ming Dong reports that the Release Candidate localized (ML) builds are now available. Go to the Java.Net Download Page and check the column labeled "ML" in the first table. Sun provides translations into French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean, but we encourage your participation if you want other translations - check out the Localization Site and the Contribution Page.

Ming has just announced that the multilingual (ML) release of GlassFish v3 Prelude is now available on the main download page (worth a couple of extra mega-bytes for the archive size). This covers the following languages French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Korean.

The most visible part is clearly the admin console. I can only judge the French localization and I'll say that I find it pretty good. Make sure you share your comments with the GlassFish localization community at g11n-AT-glassfish.dev.java.net.

If you're any curious, get the ML version and stick the -Duser.language=zh -Duser.region=CN (or similar) startup option in your domain.xml (or simply use %java -Duser.language=xyz -jar modules/glassfish.jar) and point your browser to admin console URL.

This is what the Update Center enables: Nov 14: Graeme announces Grails 1.0.4; Nov 17th: Alexis announces its Availability in the Update Center. Way to go Vivek et al! Download GlassFish v3 Prelude, and check the update center for the new packages (you can do it directly from the admin console); then select the "grails" component and install it. Wait a bit (it is 49MB!) and there you go. Also check out Vivek's presentation on Scripting in GFv3 Prelude and Alexis' Grails Intro Screencast.

Last week Alexis posted a nice and short screencast showing how to use install Grails into GlassFish v3 Prelude using the new Update Center. Check out the Screencast, download GFv3 from here, and get started. Also, don't miss Vivek's 1hr webinar tomorrow on Scripting in GFv3 Prelude covering Ruby, Python and Groovy; we decided to leave PHP for another webinar.

And you may also want to check out Vivek's mini-presentation from last week's GFv3 Prelude Launch, as well as Geertjan's writeup and screencast on Grails and AJAX.

With all the great things you hear about GlassFish v3 Prelude, you may wonder if this is the right tool for you to use and why a "Prelude" moniker is used here. The answer to lies into this pretty thorough comparison between GlassFish v2 and v3 Prelude. For instance, depending on which version of .Net WCF you want to interoperate with, or if full Java EE-compliance is required, this page will tell which GlassFish to use. Both are supported products.

Here's also more coverage following our launch last week :
• GlassFish v3 Prelude - Out Now! (Pat "OpenSSO" Patterson)
• Quick News: GlassFish v3 Prelude Released (The Virtual Machine)
• GlassFish v3 and Grails Support (The Virtual Machine)
• Java DB and GlassFish v3 Prelude (François "JavaDB" Orsini)
• Jaspersoft est certifié pour Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server (TooLinux)
• Sun veröffentlicht neue Vorschau auf Glassfish
• Sun dévoile la version 3 de son serveur d’applications Java GlassFish (Silicon.fr)
• Screencast #27: Simple Web Application using NetBeans 6.5 IDE and GlassFish v3 Prelude (Arun)
• Sun sort un prélude de GlassFish V3 (LeMagIT)
• Nouveau serveur GlassFish, certification Jaspersoft (Programmez.com)
• Prelude includes Portable, In-Memory JACC Provider (Ron)
• GlassFish v3 Prelude, Sun fait le Buzz (Xebia France - Revue de Presse)
• Modular Architecture Based on OSGi (The Cynical Turtle)
• OSGi in the Enterprise (InfoQ)
• Who support what with Comet or why GlassFish v3 Prelude is for you! (Jean-François "Comet" Arcand)

Our next full-length webinar is on Scripting (or Dynamic) Languages in GlassFish v3 Prelude this Thursday, Nov 13th. Same usual time, 11:15 am Pacific Time. This is a full-length (1 hour) version of the presentation that Vivek gave last week at GlassFish Day (SlideShare, Recording). Vivek will cover the multiplicity of languages supported and the technology; demos will be included For more details, check the Schedule and Channel Overview. Hope to see you Online!

Looking back at last Thursday's launch of GlassFish v3 Prelude, we have had a great number of blog entries, a lot from the engineers, many from the community, all are diverse, informative and passionate. Clearly, OSGi, RESTful Web Services, support for Rails and Grails, and technology previews (JSF 2.0, JAX-RS 1.0, EJB 3.1) were the most noticed features.

One thing that could probably be emphasized here (the Prelude FAQ covers this) is the fact that this is a fully supported (use it in production) release, not just a "preview" of some later product. The differences between the community product and GlassFish Enterprise are outlined on this page. Subscriptions are available online.

Here are more blog posts and coverage since the launch :
• Extending GlassFish v3 Prelude, As Easy As 1-2-3 (Sreeni)
• EJB 3.1 in GlassFish v3 Prelude (Ken)
• GlassFish V3 Prelude (France's application-servers.com)
• GlassFish v3 Prelude and Portlet Container 2.0_01 (Deepak)
• jMaki 1.8.1 and GlassFish V3 released (Carla)
• Globalization team contributes to the Glassfish v3 Prelude Release (Ming)
• Sun Launches OGSI based Lightweight Web Application Server (Enterprise Software Blog)
• Sun Introduces OSGi based Server: Glassfish V3 (Techno Paper)
• New and improved GlassFish gem (Vivek)

GlassFish v3 "Prelude" is launching today. Expect blogs, articles, and more throughout the day. If all you want is the bits, here they are. This release builds on top of the Apache Felix OSGi runtime, offers great extensibility, support for Rails and Grails, developer features (fast startup, retain sessions across redeploys, NetBeans and Eclipse tooling, ...), an embedded API, Comet support, a brand new IPS-based update center, RESTful web services, a preview of several Java EE 6 features, and much more. Check out this introduction article as well as the press release, it also mentions a few partners building on top of GlassFish v3 Prelude.

Hear all about these new features in today's Online GlassFish Day. 20+ short sessions starting 8am PST.

Press
• Sun offers OSGi app server (InfoWorld)
• Sun z aplikacijskim strežnikom na arhitekturi OSGi
• Glassfish v3 Prelude (from Hungary)
• Sun Releases New GlassFish Preview (eWeek)
• Sun wydaje nową wersję serwera GlassFish z elementami Javy EE 6 (OSnews.pl)
• Sun Intros GlassFish Enterprise Server v3 Prelude (Java Entrepreneur)
• 米Sun、OSGiベースのアプリケーションサーバー「GlassFish v3 Prelude」を公開, (Enterprise Watch Japan)
• What You Can Expect From GlassFish v3 Prelude, (DZone)
• New GlassFish V3 Release Offers Preview of Java Enterprise Edition 6 , (IndicThreads)
• GlassFish v3 Prelude released, (TheServerSide)
• Jaspersoft Announces Commercial Certification for Sun GlassFish™ Enterprise Server, (NewsWire)

Blogs
Yes, before you ask, we have full and formal documentation, not just blog entries :)
• Top 10 GlassFish v3 Prelude Features, Nazrul
• Glassfish V3 Prelude comin’ to life…, Kawazu
• pkg(5) Toolkit 2.0 Release Available, TomM
• GlassFish v3 Prelude redéfinit le serveur léger, Alexis
• OpenSolaris SPECjAppServer Sun Fire X4150, BMSeer
• Extending the GlassFish v3 Prelude Administration Console, Jason
• Making Your GlassFish v3 Prelude Administration Console Plugin Pluggable, Jason again
• GlassFish v3 Prelude - now available!, Arun
• Prelude for GlassFish in v3-sharp major with Jersey (best title so far IMHO), PaulS
• What's really cool with GlassFish v3 Prelude, Jean-François
• [Sun] GlassFish {Enterprise|Application} Server v3 Prelude Available for Download, PaulD
• GlassFish v3 Prelude now available with Metro 1.4, Harold
• About extensibility in GlassFish v3 prelude, Tim
• Deployment in GlassFish v3 prelude, Tim again
• (GlassFish) Admin Console providing UpdateTool functionality, Anissa
• Jersey 1.0 Available on GlassFish V3 Prelude Update Center, Jakub
• Are you sure you are developing Java Web Apps?, Vince
• Moving Tomcat Toplink Apps to Glassfish v3 Prelude, Lance
• Extending GlassFish v3 Prelude, As Easy As 1-2-3, Sreeni
• Retain session data during redeployment, Jan
• Monitoring in GlassFish v3 Prelude, Prashanth
• JDBC support in V3 Prelude, Shalini
• GlassFish v3 Prelude OSGi support: It is really true?, Ludo
• JAX-WS RI 2.1.5/Metro 1.4 in GFv3 prelude, Jitu
• Mojarra 1.2_10 and 2.0.0 available on GlassFish V3 Prelude, Ryan
• GlassFish V3 Prelude debuts today, Jerome (GlassFish Architect)
• GlassFish Enterprise Server V3 Prelude Released, PaulS
• Working with Metro on Glassfish v3 Prelude, Bhakti
• GlassFish v3 Prelude is out, Julien
• Monitor GlassFish v3 Prelude with the Admin Console, Jennifer
• Dynamic Languages support in GlassFish v3 Prelude, Vivek
• GlassFish v3 Prelude and LDAP, LudoP
• Singleton EJB support in GlassFish V3 Prelude, Mahesh
• Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server Subscriptions, PaulS
• A thank you card to FishCAT members !, Judy
• Glassfish + OSGi + Equinox + Eclipse = Good Job Sun, Eclipse's Ian
• JRuby and Rails on GlassFish v3 Prelude - An Overview, Vivek
• Admin CLI Pluggability - defining options and operands, Janey
• GlassFish Day - GlassFish v3 Prelude, Terada-san
• OSGIfying Metro for GlassFish V3, Fabian
• GlassFish v3 Prelude: Der neue Glassfish ist da
• IzPack-based installer for GlassFish v3 Prelude, Julien
• Celebrating the GlassFish v3 Prelude release, java.net Editor's Daily Blog

Others (mainly screencasts)

• GlassFish Video - Introducing GlassFish v3
• GlassFish Video - GlassFish v3 Prelude: What's New
• GlassFish Video - Java EE 6 and GlassFish
• Incremental Java Web Application Development with NetBeans 6.5 and GlassFish V3 (Save-Reload development with session preservation and automatic deployment).
• From Zero to Grails in 5 minutes with GlassFish v3 Prelude

We'll keep updating this entry with the blogs and articles as we see then pop up in the 24h to 48h or so.

This Thursday, Nov 6th, we will host a GlassFish Day covering GlassFish v3 Prelude. This online-only event includes over 20 short (10m) related presentations. Presentations start at 8am US Pacific and run until 5pm US Pacific and will be recorded. The time spread and recordings should make the event more accessible to the global audience, and the overview presentation will be repeated. For more details, check the Schedule and Channel Overview. Hope to see you Online!

NetBeans 6.5 is scheduled to be released on November 20th (see Roadmap). NB 6.5 includes many new features and is the first NB release to include GlassFish v3 (Prelude); you can help its quality by testing the latest Release Candidate. Check out: • Overall Information on the RC release. • Latest New and Noteworthy features - also see those of previous milestones, M1 and M2. • Download site for sun-distributed builds • Community-Localized builds (thanks to katakai for the tip)

Earlier today Paul Announced the availability of GFv3 Prelude ([1], [2]). Work conflicts didn't let me host the usual webinar today and we have the US elections early next week, so we have delayed the webinar until next Thursday, Nov 6th.

Since there is a lot of new material in GF v3 Prelude, instead of our usual format we are arranging a day of mini-webinars, each 10 minutes. We will broadcast through TheAquarium Online, with recordings to be made available afterwards. I'm currently planning to start a batch of presentations at 8am US Pacific and another at 1pm US Pacific, repeating the overview presentations but varying the rest of the content. The time spread should make the event more accessible to the global audience, and the recordings should handle any conflicts.

I expect to post an updated Schedule of Talks over the weekend, as the details are settled.

• We will not have an Online Webinar this week on GlassFish v3 Prelude due to scheduling conflicts on my side and the added noise on the US election, but... • The Special Webinar Event will happen next week, on Thursday, November 6th. We will broadcast via TheAquarium Online and we are exploring doing several mini-talks centered in the different topics in GlassFish v3 Prelude. Stay tuned for more details.

The GlassFish Quality Community is doing an outstanding job! Check out the MarkMail Archive: 506 posts in August and 492 in September already. Part of reason is the GFv3 Prelude release but the bulk is just community focus. Check out the FishCAT reports ([1], [2], [3]) and the Community Meeting Minutes.