At Magento we look at everything we do against one measuring stick—“enabling the eCommerce ecosystem”.  Today’s announcement that we’ve secured our first investment will further help us all continue to make this come true.  While the terms of the deal are confidential, we’re extremely excited about this investment and the capital will give us an even stronger foundation for growth as Magento continues to be adopted Worldwide. Our tremendous growth rate can be seen in our metrics:

• Magento has been downloaded over 1.5 million times.
• Is in active use by over 60,000 merchants who sell online.
• We also now have an active community of over 150,000 members and our forums are visited daily by tens of thousands of developers.
• Our passionate users have also translated the product into more than 65 languages.
• We now have over 150 partners around the world helping deliver Magento to large and small merchants through the US, Europe & Asia.
• Many of the world’s best brands and emerging eCommerce leaders are now running their eCommerce stores on Magento.
• …and yes, the word “Magento” is now searched more than “eCommerce” http://tinyurl.com/yd5ofcd

What does it mean to “enable the eCommerce ecosystem”? It’s about building Magento into a company that supports and facilitates the growth and vision of our passionate eCommerce users, developers, partners and merchants around the world. 

We have come a long way in a short time and our growth is fantastic. Yet there is no shortage of initiatives that we remain focused on to achieve our goals with and for you, the Magento community.

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In the very near future we’ll be releasing the design beta of our new Magento Connect marketplace.  This new design isn’t the “Magento Connect 2.0” update you’ve been hearing about, but rather a refreshed design that will prepare the way for some of the larger changes ahead.  That being said, we’ve made a couple functional upgrades that will make Magento Connect a better experience for our users, and over the next week, I’ll be blogging about these updates so that our developers can prepare for them before they go live. 

The first major update I’d like to announce is to our extension categories.  Previously, the amount of categories wasn’t vast enough to cover the breadth of products that our community was offering, and to make things more confusing, there was no cap on the amount of categories an extension could be listed within.  This resulted in a very poor experience, and now that we seeing so many new extensions on our marketplace, it is a perfect time introduce two updates in this area.  So without further delay.....

Two-Category Limit for Extensions
First, we’re placing a cap on the number of categories an extension can be listed in.  From now on, extensions can only be associated to two —two.  This will make it much easier for merchants find extensions

New Categories
Second, we’re introducing a new suite of categories (listed below).  When the new design goes live, developers will be able to login to their account and re-categorize their extensions.  We’re also working on a few contingency plans for developers who may not immediately be able to make this update.

Here are the new categories:

* Administration
* Advertising & Marketing
* Analytics
* Automation
* Billing & Invoicing
* Catalog
* Checkout
* Content Management
* Customer Service
* Data
* Design & Themes
* Gifting
* Integration
* Internationalization & Localization
* Merchandizing
* Migration tools
* Mobile
* Optimization
* Other
* Payments & Gateways
* Performance
* Personalization
* Pricing & Promotion
* Search
* SEO
* Shipping
* Shopping Cart
* Widgets

If you have any feedback or suggestions, be sure to post in the comments below.  We’re very open to your feedback.  I’ll have some more exciting updates to announce in the days & weeks ahead, and will also make a few announcements at our Magento Developer’s event next month.

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It’s been quite a week for Magento Connect.  On Monday, our Official Magento marketplace reached 2,000 extensions.  It was such a milestone for our community that we decided to hold a competition around the event, where three winners were awarded within one minute of the 2,000th posting (which was the Home Supplies Store by Magentist).

Congratulations to @expert_magento, @d_n_d, and @christophedavy, with a special honorable mention for @unirgy.  These winners will receive a Magento T-Shirt autographed by Roy Rubin, a copy of the highly-acclaimed Magento User Guide, and a sneak peak at some of the upcoming design changes to Magento Connect (which we’ll be blogging more about shortly).  The winners were announced on the News page of our Official Magento iPhone App, and on through twitter.

Of course, thanks to everyone in our community for making Magento Connect a success.  Early today we reached 2,083 extensions, which is a growth rate of nearly 5% in just 4 days.  Hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to meet up in Spain for the upcoming developer’s event!

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We’ve really upped the ante on this one!  You’ve heard the rumors, you’ve seen the leaked pics and proposed talks, and now we are finally happy to announce the Magento Developers Paradise, a developer’s mega event, coordinated by Magento Enterprise Partner NetResearch taking place in Mallorca, Spain.  If you are a Magento developer, if you build Magento projects, if you’re a Magento Connect extensions contributor or looking to learn more about the Magento platform then this is a MUST attend event where you’ll get a chance to interact with peers, Magento partners, worldwide experts and the Magento core team to maximize your knowledge of Magento development.  This event is all English and open to developers from around the world.

Tickets are extremely limited and demand is high, so please register as soon as you can to ensure you have locked in your place.

Register NOW: Limited Availability

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The recording of this week’s Partner Solutions Series Webinar, Managing Sales Tax in Magento eCommerce Applications, with Avalara is now available on the Magento Webinar Archive.  Please send any follow-up questions to .  Be sure to check out recordings of our other great webinars as well, all on the Magento Webinar Archive.

Also, as a special thanks, Avalara is now offering all webinar attendees 50% off of their initial one-time activation fee for the AvaTax service.  This offer expires on March 31, 2009.  For more information or to take advantage of this offer, contact either Matthew Grattan, , 206.826.4900 x1138 or David West, , 206.826.4900 x1119. 

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A quick reminder that the first Magento Chicago Meetup is tonight. If you haven’t already, sign up to attendto meet with and learn from Magento developers and users.  Join members of the Magento Team and Lyons Consulting Group as we team up for the first ever Magento Chicago Meetup.  The Meetup will take place at the TechNexus and is for Chicago area Magento users, partners, developers and business owners to meet and share insights, challenges, best practices and success stories. If you’re in the Chicago area and interested in Magento, this is the place to be!  Sign up now!

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The Magento team continues to rapidly grow. We've recently added a number of senior positions, including:

• Head of Marketing
• Head of Support Services Group
• Business Unit GM: SAAS eCommerce SMB
• Business Unit GM: Training, Certification, Education
• Strategic Partner Manager, North America
• Strategic Partner Manager, Europe

If you love Magento (as we do), are passionate about eCommerce, and excited about the mission of “enabling the eCommerce ecosystem” worldwide, we want to hear from you! Send an email to jobs [[at]] varien.com with your resume (make sure to mention the position you are applying for).

Don't forget to keep watching our jobs page for new positions as we continue to expand globally.

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I’m excited today to announce an expansion of our strategic partnership with PayPal. As the leader in the global eCommerce payments market with over 81 million active accounts, PayPal is committed to the success of open platforms and a natural partner for Magento. Over the next few months, current Magento merchants will find an expanded and deeper integration with PayPal’s products and services, including a seamless and automated merchant on boarding process. Additionally, Magento will collaborate with PayPal on a number of new product initiatives to further drive e-commerce innovation and expand the global reach of our product. More details will be released throughout the year. In the meantime, read the full press release to learn more.

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Magento Connect is growing up.  It seems like only yesterday that our extension marketplace went live after a 36-hour coding marathon that left at least one of our developers completely exhausted.  Magento Connect has since skyrocketed to nearly 2,000 extensions, and because the community has been an essential part of this growth, we thought it would be fitting to celebrate by launching a contest to find & announce our 2,000th extension.  The three winners will be declared in the news section of our official iPhone app (we’ll also post the names here on our blog).

Ever since we first launched Magento Connect just under two years ago we’ve seen developers from around the world bring hundreds of innovative solutions to our over 40,000 merchants.  Merchants have responded favorably, especially as they’ve needed to reach customers through new channels such as mobile and social media (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace), upgrade the designs of their storefronts, and integrate third-party solutions with the Magento platform to stay ahead of the curve.

Our 2,000th extension is just around the corner, and we’re launching a contest where three lucky winners will receive each the following prizes:

Instructions
First, watch the counter at the bottom of our View All Extensions page, and check the first-listed extension when the counter reaches 2,000.  Note that some extensions might be updated around the same time, so you’ll need to make sure that the extension you submit is indeed a brand-new extension (hint: it won’t have any reviews or downloads).

Second, tweet the name and link of the 2,000th extension to our official Magento Connect twitter account (@magentoconnect).  The first three people who tweet the correct 2,000th extension will win all three of the above prizes. 

Finally, we’ll announce the names of the three winners on the news section of our official Magento iPhone app (available here).  If you don’t have an iPhone, then don’t worry.  Shortly after the announcement on our iPhone app we’ll also post the names of the three winners here on the Magento Blog.  Be sure to check for your name and respond within 48 hours or we’ll need to award the prizes to the next person in line. 

If you’d like to collaborate on this project or share updates with the community, be sure to use the #Connect2000 hashtag on twitter. 

Good luck!

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A European fashion e-commerce platform for KangaROOS and Flip*Flop
Magento Partner Strawberries has developed a multilingual webshop to support sales across several European markets on behalf of southern German company Bernd Hummel Holding, licence holder for the KangaROOS brand in 16 European countries. The webshop sells KangaROOS shoes, clothing and accessories.

It was not only the qualities of the KangaROOS brand that were taken into account when developing the concept for the webshops, but also the translation of this concept into other brand formulas. Besides KangaROOS, the shop concept has also been applied to the summer shoe and accessories brand Flip*Flop.

Fully integrated e-commerce platform
Bernd Hummel Holding and Strawberries bore joint responsibility for the concept while the KangaROOS and Flip*Flop shops were under development. Strawberries took care of the design, implementation and management, and the Magento platform was used as an e-commerce solution.

The webshops are fully integrated with the Austrian logistics service provider Dohmen. In addition, the e-commerce platform is integrated with a credit-check module and various social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Studivz.

About Strawberries
Strawberries is a full-service internet company based in the heart of Amsterdam. Based on a clear vision, we have been developing and translating web strategies into functional, measurable internet solutions for 12 years. Thirty employees work together with our regular partners to ensure high-quality internet applications that are in keeping with our clients’ goals and the wishes of their users.

Strawberries works for clients including V&D, adidas, SEAT, Philips, Dolcis, Manfield, ProSport, Invito, VGZ, Vereniging Eigen Huis and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Do you spend your valuable time dealing with sales tax when you could be growing your business?  Are you constantly updating rules and trying to make sure you’re in compliance with your local tax codes?  Magento is proud to announce that we’ve teamed up with Avalara (www.avalara.com), the leading provider of web-based sales tax automation solutions for businesses of all sizes, to enable Magento merchants to easily and affordably manage sales tax calculation, compliance, and exemption certificates.  As of today, Magento will offer seamless integration with Avalara’s AvaTax™ service.

Through its AvaTax service, Avalara offers the fastest, most accurate, and affordable Web-based tax compliance service available. AvaTax operates as a module, providing a fully integrated and automated sales tax management system that includes functionality to protect against audits, obsolete data, and changing tax laws. With point-and-click ease, sales tax is figured in tenths of a second, with unequaled accuracy, transaction after transaction.

Check out our Press Release page to read the full press releases and get more details.

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Will you be attending this week’s 2010 Retail Innovation and Marketing Conference in San Francisco?  Join us as Magento, along with Enterprise Partners Optaros co-sponsor the National Retail Foundation’s 2010 Retail Innovation and Marketing Conference on March 2-4 in San Francisco, CA.  Founder Roy Rubin and other members of the Magento team will be on hand throughout the opening reception and show.  If you are interested in meeting with any members of the Magento team please contact our Vice President of Sales, to schedule a time to talk.

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If you’re a Mac head looking to set up Magento standalone on your Mac, whether it’s to explore and learn about Magento, to do a little development or present to clients, and have been looking for easy instructions, today’s your lucky day!  Mark Hopwood, Technical and Operations Director over at Magento Enterprise Partner Pod1 has put together this great tutorial on getting Magento up and running on Mac.  Mark’s instructions focus on Magento Enterprise Edition but are easily adaptable to Community Edition as well! 

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Join us as Magento along with Enterprise Partners Optaros co-sponsor the National Retail Foundation’s 2010 Retail Innovation and Marketing Conference on March 2-4 in San Francisco, CA.  Founder Roy Rubin and other members of the Magento team will be on hand throughout the opening reception and show.  If you are interested in meeting with any members of the Magento team please contact our Vice President of Sales, to schedule a time to talk.

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Join members of the Magento Team and Lyons Consulting Group as we team up for the first ever Magento Chicago Meetup.  The Meetup will take place at the TechNexus and is for Chicago area Magento users, partners, developers and business owners to meet and share insights, challenges, best practices and success stories. If you’re in the Chicago area and interested in Magento, this is the place to be!  Sign up now!

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Magento CE version 1.4.0.1 Stable is now available for download and upgrade.

Please Note: We do NOT recommend upgrading a production installation of Magento directly. Please backup database and all files before upgrading. Please make sure to check file permissions before trying to upgrade through your Magento Connect Manager.

This release mainly fixes an upgrade issue that was experienced while upgrading through Magento Connect Manager and a cache issue in specific environments.

We highly recommend disabling Magento cache before upgrading.

To see a full list of features and fixed issues please visit our release notes page. Diff files are available here.

Since version 1.4.0.0 for security reasons the trace in the Magento error report page is disabled by default. The “Error log number” does not give any information about the error. To enable the trace copy the errors/local.xml.sample to errors/local.xml and follow the instructions described in that file.

Please report all issues with this release in the bug tracker.

Important Note 1: If the Magento Compilation Module is enabled it must be disabled before attempting to upgrade. After upgrading is done, click on “Run Compilation Process” to process and enable it again.

Important Note 2: If you are running Magento in a cluster environment and are using a shared cache (e.g. Memcached) you will now need to also make sure to configure Magento to use Database as the “slow” backend cache.

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