Confused about Dolphin 6, 7, 8

We would like to use Dolphin, but are totally befuddled as to which version we should use (assuming that we should use it).

In response to questioning about the release of Dolphin 7, I read in these forums where someone speculated that a RC version of Dolphin 7 would probably not be until December or perhaps February 2010 at the latest.

Yet on the Products page of this site regarding Poseidon, it reads, "Poseidon has been in development since 2007 and is planned to be the core engine for Dolphin 8." The estimated release date for Poseidon is stated on this site as being March 2010.

So if you piece these two things together, it suggests that Dolphin 7 wouldn't be around very long before being superceded by Dolphin 8. If that is the case, is there any point in waiting for Dolphin 7, rather than simply building sites now using Dolphin 6? I mean, if Dolphin 7 is to be rendered obsolete by a Dolphin 8 shortly thereafter, why not simply proceed right now using Dolphin 6? Thanks for everyone's input.

Hello bco. Let's see if I can help to sort things out here a bit. Our currently available software is Dolphin 6.1.6 and we are in the beta stages of Dolphin 7 with an RC version coming when bugs are no longer reported. After that comes full release. We are hoping for this very soon and are looking at September - barring difficulties.

Poseidon (you might see it called Trident also) is the engine that will power the future software and is slated for version 8 with a target date somewhere in spring - March maybe. Some of our sites have been running on Poseidon since 2007 for proving and refinement. There is a Dolphin 8 planned for this version, as well as other scripts that we may develop to run on this engine in a modular fashion that may provide different features. This will allow anyone to develop a custom app that will "plug in" and run on the Poseidon/Trident platform. At present, it is planned that there will still be a regular Dolphin 7 and the version 8 of Dolphin available concurrently - probably with different features.

Using the current Dolphin 6 and keeping mods and scripting changes to a minimum will help to smooth the transition to version 7 when it gets here.

Those are plans and may change, of course, so a good place to keep up with current info is the Unity blog section - Boonex team posts.

Hope that helps to clarify things some.....

Wow, that's the most intelligent response I've ever heard... from a guy who's location I could not possibly pronouce.

Mike it's sounds very promising... ;-)

Come on!!

Mike, thank you so much for the informative response. I am very pleased to hear that Dolphin 7 final release is anticipated for just a matter of weeks away, in September. As such, that seems to dictate to us that we simply sit tight for a bit longer. Again, thank you very much for your very helpful explanation. I will continue to watch for announcements here, as you suggest.

I wonder if I could impose upon you a second time. Come the springtime, will it be difficult to migrate or upgrade a Dolphin 7 site to Dolphin 8 (Poseidon/Trident)? Again, thank you so much for your help!

This is a question I had asked earlier and im glad someone actually answered it.  I just hate to invest money on getting a dolphin 7 modded, and customized.  When dolphin 8 will be out in just a few months after.  Well 3 to 4 months later.  Im not really sure how long of a time frame is usually between dolphin builds.  But if a new build is released every few months then its almost better to just get a version of dolphin and stick with it.  Unless its absolutely necessary to upgrade.