WordPress 2.4 is now 2.5

It was announced today that what was to be the next new version of WordPress, 2.4 - which was scheduled for a January 24 release has now been abandoned and replaced with version 2.5 and is now scheduled for an early March release.

Due to such major changes in the code base, and in the administration panel, the WordPress team chose not to rush things and opted, instead, to allow for more time for a quality release. Let’s hope this means not quite so many updates so soon after the initial release (i.e. 2.5.1, 2.5.2, etc, etc).

Matt made the announcement in the WordPress mailing list and had this to say:

This is the timeframe when 2.5 was originally schedule for, so we’re treating the originally planned 2.4 in December as a skipped release, as a result of both the holidays and the large changes which we weren’t able to start on until late October.

There’s some good stuff in the oven, and we don’t want to rush it.

The new release shall be called 2.5. Various official docs and roadmaps will be updated in due course.

This announcement was met with developer breaths of relief far and wide and is admired as a wise decision, considering the vast amount of changes we’re looking forward to in the next release of WordPress.

For users - it means:

1. We have more time until we need to upgrade to the next major release - - allowing users to get completely comfortable with 2.3 before they go and change everything in 2.5
2. The developers of WordPress are taking their time to produce quality over quantity - and that’s awesome, man!