In a surprise move on February 27th the Oxygen team released version 6. It is a rewrite and modernization of the code base. In the video I review the information available for current lifetime license holders and do a walk-through of the UI in the video below.
Video Version
Information We Have So Far
With the release of Oxygen 6.0 there are now two versions. We have been told that classic Oxygen will continue to be maintained, more or less as it has been. This is good news for current Oxygen site owners, as it means that current sites are safe and don’t need to be rebuilt any time soon. The docs and resources for classic Oxygen are still available on a subdomain of the main site.
However, Oxygen 6 is a total new version and is not backwards compatible. This means that users will not be able to directly update old Oxygen sites by installing the new version. People will want to use Oxygen 6 on new sites.
How was the Oxygen team able to rewrite the builder? Remember several years ago, when Breakdance was released, that we were told it was not possible to rewrite Oxygen. Well, the answer is that the new version was created using the Breakdance code base. Apparently about 80% of the code base is the same between the two builders. This is an example of how something that was impossible a few years ago in the tech world, is easy several years later when the challenge is re-evaluated in the light of current possibilities.
For those who have a lifetime license for classic Oxygen, the new Oxygen is included free. Also, there are three Breakdance element collections which are being given to new Oxygen users for free: the general Breakdance elements, the Breakdance Form Builder, and the Breakdance WooCommerce builder.
Breakdance is available by subscription only. Just so Breakdance users don’t feel left out, the team is giving Oxygen 6 to Breakdance users for as long as their subscription is active.
For a walk-though of the new Oxygen 6.0 beta 1, please watch the video.
