<p><img src="http://www.magentocommerce.com/images/uploads/magento_11_release.jpg" style="border: 0;" alt="Magento 1.1 is here!! - More tools for growing your business" width="636" height="258"/></p>
<p>We are thrilled to announce the availability of the <a href="http://www.magentocommerce.com/download"><strong>production release of Magento 1.1</strong></a> ( <a href="http://www.magentocommerce.com/download"><strong>Download</strong></a> <span class="pipe">|</span><a href="http://www.magentocommerce.com/download/release_notes#Release Notes - Magento 1.1.1 (July 24, 2008)"><strong>Release Notes</strong></a> ).<br/>For this major release we focused on expanding Magento's product configuration options, streamlining integration between strategic Magento modules and external applications, increasing the flexibility of the core tax module to allow for Canadian and EU tax rules and boosting the overall performance of the Magento Platform.</p>

<p><strong>Here are some of the highlights of Magento 1.1:</strong></p>

<div style="margin-bottom:15px; padding:13px 16px; background:#fcfbf1;">
<div class="col2-set" style="padding-bottom:12px; border-bottom:1px solid #e0e0e0; margin-bottom:8px;">
<h3 class="col-1" style="width:160px; padding-right:10px; color:#dc4300; margin:0; ">More product-types</h3>
<div class="col-2" style="width:453px;">With Magento 1.1 merchandisers can now create a few new product types:
<ul class="disc">
<li><strong>Bundles</strong> (most commonly used in kitting or in the built-to-order product model)</li>
<li><strong>Virtual Products</strong> - products that don't require shipping information</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col2-set" style="padding-bottom:12px; border-bottom:1px solid #e0e0e0; margin-bottom:8px;">
<h3 class="col-1" style="width:160px; padding-right:10px; color:#dc4300; margin:0; ">More ways to configure products</h3>
<div class="col-2" style="width:453px;">
<ul class="disc">
<li><strong>Custom Product Options</strong> - allow merchants to designate a SKU to a base item and add attributes instead of having to create a unique SKU for every combination of options (simple products).</li>
<li><strong>Personalized Products</strong> - a new product configuration feature in Magento 1.1 that allows customers to personalize products by adding images or text, such as embroideries, engravings, etc.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col2-set" style="padding-bottom:12px; border-bottom:1px solid #e0e0e0; margin-bottom:8px;">
<h3 class="col-1" style="width:160px; padding-right:10px; color:#dc4300; margin:0; ">Integrate with any application via Web Services</h3>
<div class="col-2" style="width:453px;">
<p>Magento 1.1 features a new <a href="http://www.magentocommerce.com/support/magento_core_api">Webservices API</a> with methods for easy integration between Magento's Catalog, Customer and Sales modules and any third party application.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col2-set">
<h3 class="col-1" style="width:160px; padding-right:10px; color:#dc4300; margin:0; ">Speeding up the process(ing)</h3>
<div class="col-2" style="width:453px;">
<p>One of the main goals for Magento 1.1 was to examine bottlenecks in the platform and improve performance. In the production release of Magento 1.1 performance was improved by as much as 40% in the catalog and sales modules, and by optimizing when and how data loads, responsiveness of the Admin UI was also increased significantly.</p>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.magentocommerce.com/features" class="arrow-link"><strong>View full list of features in Magento 1.1</strong></a></p>
</div>
<p><strong>With over 400,000 downloads to date, Magento is quickly evolving into a household name in the eCommerce market</strong>. This release is set to extend the reach of the Magento platform even further. We are confident that the ability to create more product types with more configuration methods combined with the Webservices API and <strong>40% more umphh</strong> will push Magento into new markets and audiences, and to even greater heights.</p>


<br>
<h3 style="margin-bottom:0; color:#004B78;">Upgrading an existing Magento Version</h3>

<p>It is now possible to upgrade your existing Magento installation to 1.1 through the Magento Connect Manager. To do so:</p>

<ul class="disc">
<li>Do <strong><u>NOT</u></strong> use your live or production site. We suggest making a copy of your site and upgrading that copy first.</li>
<li>Log into your Magento Connect Manager.</li>
<li>Select the 'Setting' tab.</li>
<li>Change the Preferred State to 'Stable', and save settings.</li>
<li>For the Mage_All_Latest package select upgrade.</li>
<li>Click on the 'Commit Changes' button. The upgrade should start. </li>
<li>After upgrade is complete click on the 'Refresh' button.</li>
<li>You should now have Magento 1.1 installed. </li>
</ul>
<p>There are a number of changes that come with any new release of Magento, especially major milestone versions, such as the (current) version 1.1 release. There is <a href="http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/upgrading_magento_themes_for_the_latest_releases" title="a wiki post available detailing ">a wiki post available detailing </a>how to upgrade your Magento theme to take advantage of the new release.</p>
<br />

More...