Just over a week ago, the PLT had a summit in San Jose, CA and asked the community to vote on the next version number of Joomla. There were two options and both had their pros and cons. Calling the January 2012 release Joomla 1.8 would have provided continuity with the currently available 1.6 and 1.7 releases, but would have required explaining why it was the exception to the rule that x.5 means a long-term release. Calling the January 2012 release Joomla 2.5 would provide consistency going forward (and backwards to Joomla 1.5), but would be an odd "jump" in the numbering since there will be no Joomla 2.0. There were plenty of questions and much discussion around the options, but now the vote is in.
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