Nov 25th, 2002 - The Miva Virtual Machine version 4.05 and Miva Merchant 4.16 have been released and addresses stability and bug problems found in prior releases. So here's what we think about the new version and our advice regarding upgrading.
As we mentioned in an earlier news item, the VM has had some stability and performance issues as well as a good number of bugs.
The new 4.05 version of the Miva Virtual Machine seems much more stable and fixes most of the known problems. The new smaller memory footprint combined with the new maxdocache configuration option seems to have taken care of the problem with using MvDO many times to call library files. The VM will now properly install Miva Merchant without any errors even on a low memory environment such as a ViaVerio FreeBSD Virtual Private server. This is great news.
The other great news is that even using the maxdocache set low enough to handle a very low memory environment, the test for doing MvDO to hundreds or thousands of separate files in a single process iteration works faster than the tests for lower numbers did previously. Improved performance is always a good thing.
Other bugs related to structures were successfully fixed, and though the strange problem with glosub_array() seems to still exist running Miva Mia VM on a Windows XP work station, there still seems to be no such problem in a UNIX environment.
Should you upgrade?
If you are currently running the Miva Virtual Machine then absolutely you should upgrade, or have your host upgrade to version 4.05 ASAP. It is a vast improvement. If you are running a compiled version of Miva Merchant then you should also upgrade Miva Merchant to version 4.16 right away.
But now comes the big question. If you are running Miva Merchant in a non-compiled form, should you upgrade to the compiled version? Well that issue is a lot more delicate. I can say that I certainly wouldn't recommend against it as I might have last month, but I still think that a lot depends on the circumstances. If your site has been up and running and taking orders, I sure wouldn't recommend attempting to upgrade during the holiday season unless you had a reason to do so.
Now if you could upgrade in a test environment and get everything ready for a quick switch, and wanted to take advantage of the improved speed so that the masses of holiday shoppers you are hoping to attract won't slow down your site, then their is probably still time. But unless you have the resources internally to test the new site, or can afford to have an expert assist you through the transition, I would recommend waiting until after the holidays.
What's the bottom line?
The bottom line is that Miva Merchant 4.16 and the Miva Virtual Machine 4.05 appears to be a new stable platform for eCommerce. Compiled Miva Merchant is the no longer the way of the future of Miva eCommerce, it is becoming the way of the present so if you aren't working on a migration strategy then you should start now. If you use Miva Script for custom applications then you if you haven't already begun the process of converting your applications over to be compiled, then you are way behind.