This is something I believe is a frequently asked query.
The reasons for the delay are :-
a) We decided that we must stop the buck here and that we can no longer afford to postpone bugs to the next release as was done in the past. I must mention that the practice of pushing bugs to the next release was being done because of the dictum – Release Early, Release Often. I realized that this makes sense till we become the standard. Once we do become the standard, we do not have that option anymore.
b) We realized that it will be much better to resolve all bugs now and then make the release so that the deployments are smoother and faster. This will also help save a lot of effort during the support phase.
c) The tendency is to go toward deployment now. So, it makes it all the more imperative that we deliver the good in deployment-grade.
d) There is a flow of queries that are seeking to move over from Sugar and other well-known names to vtiger. It makes business sense to ensure that they are moved to the latest stable and bug-free version rather than moving them over later on else it will be too expensive
e) Migrating customers and then fixing bugs on top of it is very costly.
f) 5.0.2 was made with the Release Early, Release Often mindset and resulted in pain which I want to avoid at all costs.
There are some quarters who believe that because of the 5.0.2 resultant release, we have taken up so much time. Nothing can be further away from the fact.
i) I wanted that the internationalization issue be addressed as vtiger has truly gone international in nature and again, it makes sense to provide this facility well so that the product can reach all the languages and areas of the world.
j) There comes a point when one has to make a call – get instant revenue by releasing early or wait and bear some pain points for long term returns. 5.0.3 release is the later.
k) The delay has been for a period of 4 months and 7 days till date. This has been the single largest delay in terms of a point bug-fix release. The number of fixes that are in as of now stand close to 470
I am a little sleepy so forgive my grammars 😉 – Gopal is ill and so is Radiant. So need a little too much coffee now.
