Latest Free Community Edition of ownCloud

ownCloud, the open
source file sync and share project, released its latest free community edition,
adding features like video streaming, mounting of third-party
storage, like Google Drive and Dropbox, a presentation player and new address
book and contact sharing.

ownCloud, Inc., the company
behind ownCloud, also released the latest commercial versions.

Built through active community development and support, the latest
ownCloud also features faster uploading, downloading and syncing of files –
even very large files, greater and more granular administrative control and
adds innovative features like sub-admins for groups – the ability to assign a
sub-administrator to a group to handle account management, desktop fast syncing
– which reduces server load and enhances the sync algorithm for a faster,
quicker, better sync with far less load on the server, enhanced permissions –
more granular permissions so end users can determine who can do what with
shared data. The latest ownCloud also includes a new app to update it and a
basic HTML5 presentation program.

"ownCloud gives our
community a great product, with the capabilities and features they need to
control their data," said Frank Karlitschek, founder of ownCloud. "One
of my favorite new features is the ability for admins and users to mount
external storage. For the first time, ownCloud can provide a common sharing
platform across a half dozen different storage back ends and combine them into
one logical access point. The video streaming is pretty cool too."

Unlike simple apps like Dropbox and Box, which store data at remote
third-party data centers, ownCloud can be deployed on a server user’s controls
or even on a NAS or home desktop as a server.

Major Enhancements:

• 
  Mounting of external storage: Administrators can
  now mount external cloud storage (Dropbox, Google, Swift, S3, etc.) and decide
  whether it is to be accessible by the entire user population, a group, or a
  specific user. Users can now do the same, providing the first ever file sync
  and share capability across multiple cloud services, using ownCloud as the
  single point of access.
• Faster syncing: Using a unique ID
  and algorithm, the sync mechanism now compares file and folder IDs to identify
  which to sync, rather than time stamps. This removes the need to have times in
  sync on desktops and servers, and has the added benefit of reducing the load
  placed on the ownCloud server.
• Sub-administrators for groups:
  Administrators can now assign one or more admins to groups on the ownCloud
  system, enabling ad-hoc group access and facilitating sharing amongst
  employees, and between employees, contractors, suppliers and partners.
• File versioning: Uploading a file
  with the same file name in the web interface will now generate a new version of
  the file and display the uploaded file as the newest version, further improving
  collaboration capabilities on non-connected ownCloud devices.
• File versioning: Uploading a file
  with the same file name in the web interface will now generate a new version of
  the file and display the uploaded file as the newest version, further improving
  collaboration capabilities on non-connected ownCloud devices.
• Enhanced Sharing: Users can now
  provide more granular permissions when they share a file, including edit,
  delete and share rights, can set expiration dates for shared files, and can
  also set a password on the URL to access a shared link, and much more, all
  within a faster and more scalable sharing engine.
• Calendar improvements: Importing and exporting of calendar events got a rewrite
  to fix compatibility issues, work with repeating events is now much faster.
• Syncing of shared address books:
  Shared address books can now be synced to other devices.
• Drag and drop contacts between address
  books: When several address books are used, contacts can be moved or copied
  easily.
• Impress presentation player: With
  the impress application plug-in – inspired by prezi.com
  – upload impress.js files to ownCloud and view presentations in a dynamic, fun
  and interactive manner.

With more than 650,000 users worldwide, ownCloud offers the ease-of-use
of Dropbox, with the flexibility, sophistication and security that can only
be provided by software installed on site. Users can host their own
data sync and share services on their own hardware and storage, use popular
public hosting and storage offerings, or both – true hybrid cloud storage.