The serious issue that appeared was that URLs were not properly encoded when NTLM authentication was required. Also we have fixed a minor problem with "Time Spent" indication in the time tracker.

Upgrade is strongly recommended if you use JIRA Client with NTLM authentication, otherwise it is not critical.

Upgrading to JIRA Client 2.1.1

To upgrade from a previous version:

1. Backup your workspace.
2. Install the new version over the old one and start JIRA Client.
3. Reload JIRA configuration using Connection | Reload JIRA Configuration.

This version may be used in a free 30-day trial mode or with any JIRA Client license key with active maintenance subscription.

We appreciate your feedback! Problems and feature requests can be posted directly to our issue tracker.

Dmitry Peshehonov
ALM Works Team

Links:

• Download JIRA Client or JIRA Client Lite
• Full change log

For this release we have resolved over 150 issues, focusing completely on user interface improvements and bug fixes. We've steered away from adding any new features to make the ones we already have better and more enjoyable.

If you haven't checked out our beta version announcement, here are the brief highlights of what you can do with this release:

• attach files and screenshots when creating new issues;
• create and configure JIRA connections with our new friendly wizard;
• search for values in almost any list by typing a few letters;
• quickly find out important facts about the current issue, and take appropriate actions — all in one place, the message panel;
• avoid illegal values in issue fields — JIRA Client will warn you about them;
• enjoy a better user interface with many little touches, including a redesigned main menu.

Looking under the hood, we've made a lot of bug fixes, optimizations, and improvements:

• you can now reassign issues even when the "Assignee" field is removed from the issue editing screen;
• the dependencies of issue types and security levels from projects are now fully supported;
• conflicts involving issues moved to other projects can now be resolved;
• and many more.

What's New Since the Beta

Since the beta release last December we have fixed a few problems specific to that beta version, and a few general ones including these:

• JCO-690 Synchronization fails with https proxy when authentication required
• PLO-594 Simplify connection setup procedure for servers with self-signed SSL certificates
• JCO-377 Field values for a new bug are lost if the fields are missing on Create Issue screen in JIRA configuration
• JCO-679 JIRA date format is incorrectly determined on JIRA 4
• JCO-682 New connection initialization incorrectly reports failure when Remote API is off
• JCO-642 Issues created through HTML interface can get duplicated in JIRA Client in some cases
• JCO-674 Version Picker and Single Version Picker fields do not display versions when edited on a workflow action dialog

The user interface has also received some extra love:

• When you change Components, Fix Versions and other multi-valued fields using drag and drop, you can now choose what you want to do — simple drag overwrites all existing values with the new one, while alt-drag adds one more value to the list.
• When you paste an image file onto an issue, the Screenshot editor is opened, so that you can add your comments, emphasize or blur details, or crop the image — complete with full Undo/Redo support.

Switch to Java 6

Starting from this release, JIRA Client leverages the benefits of Java 6. Windows and Linux distributions include bundled Java 6. On Macs, Java 6 is supported on:

• Mac OS X Snow Leopard on any Intel-based Macs, and
• Mac OS X Leopard (10.5.2 and above) on 64-bit Intel-based Macs, if you have Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 1 or newer.

You can easily find out whether JIRA Client 2.1 will run on your Mac by launching the Java Preferences application and looking for "Java SE 6" on the "General" tab.

Upgrading to JIRA Client 2.1

To upgrade from a previous version:

1. Backup your workspace.
2. Install the new version over the old one and start JIRA Client.
3. Reload JIRA configuration using Connection | Reload JIRA Configuration.

This version may be used in a free 30-day trial mode or with any JIRA Client license key with active maintenance subscription.

We appreciate your feedback! Problems and feature requests can be posted directly to our issue tracker.

Pavel Zvyagin
ALM Works Team

Links:

• Download JIRA Client or JIRA Client Lite
• Full change log

Changed in this version:

• Bugzilla upgraded to 3.4.4 (new features in Bugzilla 3.4);
• New language packs: Bulgarian, Spanish, Chinese (Traditional);
• jobqueue.pl script installed to enable asynchronous mail processing to speed up Bugzilla;
• Linux distribution upgraded to Debian 5.0 ("Lenny");
• Linux kernel upgraded to 2.6.26 (current kernel on Debian Lenny);
• Apache, MySQL and other system packages upgraded along with the OS;
• VMWare Tools upgraded.

We have also packaged Virtual Bugzilla with the exceptionally performing 7-Zip archive, reducing download size to 55 Megabytes. If you don't have 7-Zip, you can download Windows self-extracting .EXE archive. A larger .ZIP archive is also available as a backup option.

As usual, upgrade from the previous version at your discretion. Upgrade may not be a trivial task and require minimal Linux user experience. Please follow upgrade instructions and don't forget to make backups. You might consider requesting commercial support from Everything Solved, Inc to help you with the upgrade.

Igor Sereda
ALM Works Team

Links:

• Download and install Virtual Bugzilla
• Virtual Bugzilla overview
• Documentation
• Discussion board

As we are keeping an eye on our own JIRA, for this release we have decided to focus on usability and bug fixing to make issue tracking even more enjoyable and easy. Here's what we have come up with in JIRA Client 2.1.

Attach files and screenshots when creating issues

You can capture a screenshot, edit and attach it directly from New Issue window. Note that you can now Undo and Redo your changes in the screenshot editor. You can also attach files when creating an issue.

New Connection Wizard

We have introduced a new means to create and edit connection settings — Connection Wizard, and removed the old Connection Manager dialog. Now, to create a connection you need to use Connection | New JIRA Connection menu item, and to change connection settings you can right click on a connection node in the Navigation Area and choose Edit Connection Settings.

Quick as-you-type navigation

We have added quick navigation to all lists — start typing, and a matching item will be selected. Area above the list shows what you've typed. You can use arrow keys to navigate to the previous and next matches.

Revamped interface

JIRA Client 2.1 has numerous small and not-so-small improvements and simplifications regarding user experience. We have also redesigned the main menu to make it more logical.

Avoiding illegal values

New Issue and Edit Issue windows now check for illegal values and warn if you try to upload or save them.

Message panel

If JIRA Client wants to tell you something about an issue, it displays a message in the new panel found below the issue viewer. If something goes wrong, don't panic! JIRA Client will offer appropriate actions to deal with the problem.

Bug fixes

This release is notable for a bunch of bug fixes and optimizations. We have resolved 129 issues, including:

• JCO-215 JIRA Client is not able to reassign issues if "assignee" field is removed from "edit issue" screen in JIRA
• JCO-1 Support dependency of issue types from project
• JCO-3 Support dependency of security levels from projects
• JCO-530 Cannot upload changes to issue that was concurrently moved to another project on server

Switch to Java 6

Starting from this release, JIRA Client leverages benefits of Java 6. Windows and Linux distributions include bundled Java 6. On Macs, Java 6 is supported on:

• Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6), and
• 64-bit Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5.2 and above) with Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 1 and above.

Upgrading to JIRA Client 2.1 Beta 1

To upgrade from a previous version:

1. Backup your workspace.
2. Install the new version over the old one and start JIRA Client.
3. Reload JIRA configuration using Connection | Reload JIRA Configuration.

This version may be used in a free 30-day trial mode or with any JIRA Client license key with active maintenance subscription.

JIRA Client 2.1 Beta 1 will stop working on March 11, 2010. Please upgrade to the latest release version before that time.

We appreciate your feedback! Problems and feature requests can be posted directly to our issue tracker.

Igor Baltiyskiy
ALM Works Team

Links:

• Download beta version of JIRA Client or JIRA Client Lite
• Full change log

• DZO-625 Full download conflicts with any change
• DZO-624 Order of values for Hardware, OS, Milestone and some other Bugzilla fields is reversed
• DZO-584 Deskzilla complains that Reporter field cannot be uploaded

If you're experiencing one of these problems, please upgrade.

Igor Sereda
ALM Works Team

Links:

• Download Deskzilla
• Change Log

One serious issue that appeared was that custom fields were not properly synchronized when working with Bugzilla 3.0. This could have led to conflicts on upload or the user being unable to edit custom fields. This problem with Deskzilla 2.0 may happen only if you have Bugzilla versions 3.0.x or 3.1.x, so if you do, upgrade to Deskzilla 2.0.1 is strongly advised.

We have also improved the application's behavior in case you upgrade but your maintenance subscription has already expired. In that case, the application offers to switch to evaluation mode, which allows you to work with the application for 30 days or until you get a license key with renewed maintenance.

To upgrade from a previous version:

1. Make sure you have an active maintenance subscription.
2. Backup your workspace.
3. Install the new version over the old one and start Deskzilla.
4. Perform full synchronization using File | Synchronize.

Big thanks to everyone who sent us feedback and error reports!

Igor Sereda
ALM Works Team

Links:

• Download Deskzilla
• Change Log

Deskzilla Lite, the Free Edition

Deskzilla Lite is a free edition of Deskzilla for small projects. It is a fully-functional Deskzilla that requires no license key, and it has a couple of limitations:

1. Deskzilla Lite allows connection to only one Bugzilla server.
2. Deskzilla Lite works only if you have 1,000 or less bugs in Bugzilla for those products you work with.

Additionally, Deskzilla Lite allows unlimited connections to well-known Bugzilla servers that host open-source projects. We keep a list of sponsored Bugzilla servers and update it upon request.

To start, you only need to download Deskzilla Lite and connect it to your Bugzilla.

What's New in Deskzilla 2.0

The highlights of the new version are:

• Support for Bugzilla 3.4;
• Time tracking;
• Basic integration with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008;
• UI improvements for Mac.

About Time Tracking

Deskzilla is able to track time that you spend working on bugs and post it as "Hours Worked" to Bugzilla. It works as follows:

• You can select a bug as your current work with Right Click | Work on Bug menu item or Ctrl+G keyboard shortcut. The bug becomes your current task and time tracking is started — you can see that in the Time Tracker window, opened with Time | Open Time Tracker menu or with Ctrl+M shortcut.
• Using Time Tracker window, you can start, stop and pause time tracking. To change the issue you're working on just select it in a query result and hit Ctrl+G.
• At any time you can review the accumulated time statistics and publish it as Hours Worked. Use Time | Edit and Publish Time menu or Ctrl+Shift+M shortcut.
• Deskzilla detects periods when you're not using your computer or when it's asleep, and can automatically turn on pause in time tracking. You can adjust settings for auto-pause using Time | Time Tracking Options menu.

About Integration with Visual Studio 2008

Deskzilla comes with TrackLink.NET, an add-on to Visual Studio 2008 that allows viewing bugs in the IDE. It works by connecting to Deskzilla and pulling out the results of a search.

To install TrackLink.NET from Deskzilla, use Tools | Integrate with IDE menu. More information is available at the TrackLink page.

Changes in Licensing Model and Pricing

Licensing options for unlimited edition (Deskzilla Pro) are now simpler. There are fixed-quantity team licenses for 5 users, 10 users and so on. For your team or company, you need to get a license that's large enough to fit everyone who would use Deskzilla. A single-user license remains to be used by individual users.

Floating and personal licenses are no longer offered. Site licenses and team licenses for more than 100 users are available upon request.

The prices for team licenses start at $490 for a 5-user license. (Check out all prices.)

The price for support and maintenance renewals is 50% of the base license price, per year. Renewing maintenance subscription is optional, but advised, as it ensures that you can receive timely support and latest upgrades.

Upgrading to Deskzilla 2.0

Upgrading to this version requires an active maintenance subscription. Your maintenance subscription allows using Deskzilla 2.0 if you have purchased Deskzilla license on November 7th, 2008 or later, or if you have purchased maintenance renewal for period covering the date of release. If you'd like to purchase a renewal, please request a quote.

To upgrade from a previous version:

• Make sure you have an active maintenance subscription.
• Backup your workspace.
• Install the new version over the old one and start Deskzilla.
• Perform full synchronization using File | Synchronize.

Thanks to everybody who sent us comments and feature suggestions! Please do not hesitate to get back to us with any feedback, via discussion board or e-mail. You can also post directly to our issue tracker. If you have any questions on the new pricing, feel free to contact sales@almworks.com.

Igor Sereda
ALM Works Team

Links:

• Download Deskzilla Pro and Deskzilla Lite
• Full change log

Upgrade is advised to everyone using JIRA Client 2.0 for editing issues.

Igor Sereda
ALM Works Team

Links:

• Download JIRA Client
• Change Log

What's more, Atlassian is now offering a $10 starter license for JIRA and other great products. And we're releasing JIRA Client Lite — a special version of JIRA Client to be used with the starter JIRA servers absolutely for free.

About JIRA Client Lite

JIRA Client Lite is free for download and use in any small or open-source projects. It has all the features of the full version, and we also provide support for the Lite version. JIRA Client Lite is different from JIRA Client Pro only in that its use is limited to open-source projects and JIRA servers running on a 10-user Starter license.

To start using the free version, you need just to download JIRA Client Lite and connect it to your JIRA.

What's new in JIRA Client 2.0

JIRA Client 2.0 is a major upgrade, incorporating all the features introduced in 1.x versions and all patches and hotfixes released previously. Compared to the previous version 1.5.3, the new features are:

• Support for JIRA 4.
• Improved Time Tracking functionality with support for tracking Remaining Time.
• A bunch of patches and user interface improvements.

The new features are described in detail in the beta release announcement.

Upgrading to JIRA Client 2.0

Upgrading to this version requires an active maintenance subscription. Your maintenance subscription allows using JIRA Client 2.0 if you have purchased JIRA Client license on October 7th, 2008 or later, or if you have purchased maintenance renewal for period covering the date of release. If you'd like to purchase a renewal, please request a quote.

There are a few important changes in this version, so upgrade is advised. If you're using JIRA 4, you should upgrade to avoid compatibility problems. To upgrade from a previous version:

• Make sure you have an active maintenance subscription.
• Backup your workspace.
• Install the new version over the old one and start JIRA Client.
• Perform full synchronization using File | Synchronize.

Thanks to everyone who helped us find bugs in the beta version!

We're always happy to hear from our customers. You can reach us by e-mail and at our forum. Problems and feature requests can be posted directly to our issue tracker.

Igor Sereda
ALM Works Team

Links:

• Download JIRA Client Pro and JIRA Client Lite
• Full change log

Support for JIRA 4

The major new JIRA 4 release from Atlassian is coming soon and we are working to make sure that integration between JIRA Client and JIRA does not break. In this beta release, we have fixed a number of compatibility issues and we believe that there are very few issues left, if any. We will continue thorough testing and optimizations before releasing the final 2.0 version.

Time Tracking Improvements

In the last JIRA Client release we have introduced time tracking feature, which speeds up posting spent time into JIRA and makes the process easy and enjoyable. In JIRA Client 2.0, we went further to improve the Time Tracker and Publish Time dialogs.

In the Time Tracker window, you can now view total time spent on a task, time spent by you and last time any work was done on the task. You can also view and change the time when you started working on the task and the remaining time. After you click on Publish button, the updated values are posted to JIRA issue.

Time Tracker window can be opened using Time menu, or by starting work on an issue using Right-click | Work on Issue, or by clicking on JIRA Client icon in the system tray.

Edit and Publish Time dialog has been improved as well. In addition to the Timesheet view it now has much simpler Summary view, which lists time spent on each issue and current estimates of the remaining time. Moreover, JIRA Client allows you to change total time spent and the remaining time before these values are posted to JIRA.

Edit and Publish Time dialog can be opened using Time menu or by clicking on Publish button in the Time Tracking window.

Upgrading to JIRA Client 2.0

To upgrade from a previous version:

• Backup your workspace.
• Install the new version over the old one and start JIRA Client.
• Perform full synchronization using File | Synchronize.

JIRA Client 2.0 Beta 1 is available immediately, so if you are interested in Time Tracking or using JIRA Client with JIRA 4, please try this beta version and let us know how it works for you.

If you are already using JIRA 4, you should upgrade to avoid compatibility problems. Otherwise, upgrade at your own discretion, as certain amount of non-critical bugs can be expected in a beta version.

This beta version of JIRA Client 2.0 will work with any JIRA Client 1.x license key. However, the released version 2.0 will work only with license keys that have active maintenance subscription (those purchased within one year prior to the date of the release, or with renewed support and maintenance).

We're looking for your feedback! You can reach us by e-mail and at our forum. Problems and feature requests can be posted directly to our issue tracker.

Igor Sereda
ALM Works Team

Links:

• Download JIRA Client Beta Version
• Full change log

With time tracking feature, Deskzilla is able to track time that you spend working on bugs and post it as "Hours Worked" to Bugzilla. To start using time tracking, select a bug you're currently working on and use Right Click | Work on Bug. Select other bugs, start, pause, stop time tracking and use Time | Edit and Publish Time menu to review and post tracked time, adjusting Hours Worked and Hours Left.

This version adds support for the new features introduced in Bugzilla 3.4, including custom fields that depend on other fields, "See Also" field and "Bug ID" custom field type.

Deskzilla user interface has been improved in this version. The main window has been rearranged — most of the buttons from the toolbar on the top have been moved to issue details view and issue list header. Deskzilla for Mac OS X has undergone some face-lifting and shortcuts for actions have been reviewed.

Deskzilla 2.0 also includes a number of other improvements and fixes (see change log).

To upgrade from a previous version:

• Backup your workspace.
• Install the new version over the old one and start Deskzilla.
• Perform full synchronization using File | Synchronize.

Beta version of Deskzilla 2.0 will work with any Deskzilla 1.x license key. However, the Release 2.0 will work only with license keys that have active maintenance subscription (those purchased within one year prior to the date of the release, or with renewed support and maintenance). Anyway, you can freely evaluate the new Deskzilla version for 30 days.

As always, we're looking for feedback on the new version. Your comments and suggestions are welcome at our forum and in our issue tracker.

Igor Sereda
ALM Works Team

Links:

• Download Deskzilla Beta
• Full change log