Nextcloud has announced a new version of its Hub collaboration platformwhich they have called Hub 26 Winter and that has more facilities for migration. Also with different improvements focused on performance that include a complete rewrite of its core; and in collaboration, as in federation between servers.
As we have mentioned, the options that Nextcloud offers for migrating users from other systems to its platform improve in Hub 26 Winter, with an application with greater support for import and export that allows you to include mail, contacts, calendars, tables and data from the Deck project management application. This function will be installed by default on the platform from now on.
As for federation, it allows users on different servers to communicate and share files, which makes decentralized collaboration between users possible. Nextcloud was already decentralized and allowed collaboration between servers thanks to federation, but these functions have been expanded in Hub 26 Winter to offer more possibilities for digital collaboration.
Thus, calendar federation will allow you to track events on shared calendars and plan between teams. They will also allow project teams to be created between users from different organizations, which will speed up collaboration.
As for the changes in its core, it has focused on the rewriting of its advanced file access layer, with the introduction of the ADA engine (Accelerated shortcut, an acronym that also implies a tribute to Ada Lovelace). This new core, based on PHP, Go and Rust, is designed to address the mechanics of bringing data to users, instead of having them search for it among the different applications on the platform.
Changes made in Nextcloud Hub 26 Winter to the database and file system support this deeper level of integration. In addition, they mean an improvement in the user experience and productivity. Especially in large scale deployments.
The objective of this rewrite was also to reduce unnecessary load and latency in daily interactions to speed up the operation of the different applications that work on the platform, such as Photos or Nextcloud Talk; as well as its Artificial Intelligence or its clients.
The new architecture allows us to significantly reduce the resources necessary to generate previews in photos, and accelerate the obtaining of data shared in Nextcloud. In addition, it allows for faster responses in local AI applications.
Nextlcloud Hub 26 Winter also offers more facilities and flexibility to improve securityand specifically for file encryption. Now you can use more options from the browser: configure end-to-end encryption, change permissions for encrypted files and generate links for public sharing, request submissions of encrypted files from other people, and generally manage encrypted files.
The Confidential Files feature allows you to automatically assign classification labels to files based on properties and metadata, in order to facilitate the automation of access restrictions or configure automations in Nextcloud Flow. Additionally, security labels are automatically reset when a document’s properties change. Calendar now has an option to restrict external invitations, to avoid possible security risks.
Among the new features of Nextcloud Talk’s Hub 26 Winter is the live transcription with translation for meetingswhich allows closing language gaps in videoconferences between people who speak different languages. Transcriptions are done through AI, and can be optionally displayed.
The new version of the platform also has various new features and improvements in functionality, performance and usability in Files, Office or Whiteboard, as well as for the Nextcloud Assistant AI assistant or applications for mobile and desktop devices. like him LaTeX support in Nextcloud Textimprovements to Document Comparison and Table Layout Tab in Office; and VoiceOver support on iOS.
Frank Karlitschek, CEO of Nextcloudhighlights in addition to the growth of the platform, its focus on security and data privacy, since «since the beginning of Nextcloud Ten years ago, our founding principle has always been clear: organizations and individuals retain ownership of their data rather than moving to a vendor-controlled ecosystem. The increase in adoption proves us right. Millions of digital workspaces are deployed every year. Nextcloud. And we are gaining even more speed. With the latest version, we further improve flexibility and usability for collaboration, communication and teamwork, while ensuring privacy and control«.
