We are quickly approaching version 1.1, and need to finalize our translations as soon as possible. If you would like to help translate OpenShot, now is your chance! All you need is a web browser and a LaunchPad account:

I have some great news for everyone today. As you can see by the title of this article, OpenShot is now officially included in the Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) repository. If you have an alpha version of Lucid, you can already find it in the Software Center. Just search for "openshot".
A big thanks to Benjamin Drung, who helped me improve the packaging and guided me on what to do each step of the way. Also, thanks to the hundreds of supporters who voted on the Ubuntu bug report for OpenShot packaging. We were the #2 bug on Ubuntu's Launchpad page (based on the number of users affected).

Even though we are now included in the Ubuntu repository, we still need to get included in Debian. We are searching for a Debian sponsor, who can help us upload the "openshot" package into Debian. If you are a Debian developer, please consider helping out our project and sponsoring us. =)

Details on the "openshot" package can be found on mentors.debian.net.

The GNOME Journal has just published an interview with me about OpenShot Video Editor! I am excited to be included in their newest issue, which is all about multimedia on Linux.

GNOME Journal, Issue 18

• Pitivi by Jono Baco
• What's new in Banshee by Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier
• Boston Summit Recap by Jason Clinton
• An interview with Jonathan Thomas, creator of the OpenShot video editor by Paul Cutler
• Writing Multimedia Applications in Vala by Jim Nelson

For anyone wondering what is next for OpenShot Video Editor, here is a post just for you! After the successful launch of version 1.0, we did not waist any time coming up with a plan for our next version.

Version 1.1 is focused primarily on stability and speed. So far we have improved our speed for previewing edits on the timeline over 1300%!

Here are a few things to look forward to in version 1.1:

• Speed Improvements
  
  
• Undo / Redo (with History panel):
  
  
  
• Improved Export Screen (now aware of installed codecs)
  
  
• Multiple copies of effects can be added to clips:
  
  
  
• Dynamic tiling of overlapping clips (Brady Bunch style):
  
  
  
• Improved Title System
  
  
• Improved Timeline Seeking (more accurate)
  

We are about 90% completed with version 1.1 so far. We will soon start translating the new English phrases, and updating the help manual. I would like to thank all of the contributors who are working with me on version 1.1!

Our goal is to be the easiest to use video editor on Linux, without sacrificing flexibility and power. While this can be a difficult line to walk, I really think we are on our way to achieving that goal. I hope everyone is as excited as we are about version 1.1, so stay tuned!