Zone4 Version 6.0 BETA is the initial release for the 2007-2008 season.  This version is being released in BETA as some people needed the Vista compatibility changes in order to attend the Sept 29th Zone4 Training course in Vancouver.  This is not a fully tested release and does not contain any documentation to explain the new features so it is only a recommended download if you have Vista and are attending the course.  Please see below for a brief overview of what is included in this release.

• Zone4 is now Microsoft Vista compatible.  In Windows Vista, Microsoft changed the rules about where temporary files can be created, and as Zone4 makes extensive use of the such files, changes were required in order to get Zone4 to run.  Zone4 no longer creates, downloads, or otherwise accesses temporary files in the C:\Program Files\Zone4 directory.  All system created files are now stored in: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Zone4.  You shouldn't necessarily need to ever access these files yourself, but that's where they are if needed.
• The major upgrade that can now be previewed in version 6.0 is the new Electronic Interface.  This much anticipated upgrade was over a year in the making and introduces several major new features, concepts and advanced functionality.  For now, you can still choose between the old and the new interface, but the old interface will be retired by version 6.1.  The new interface aims to solve all of the problems inherent with the old start wand assignment, and introduces a much more flexible architecture for more advanced timing options.  The new interface takes full advantage of the Summit Systems timers including Posted Bib entry, Bib + Time entry, and Bib Order Sequence entry.  Summits and Zone4 are now an unbeatable combination of power and flexibility and will radically change the way races are timed in Canada.  A great deal of documentation will be required to adequately describe the new system but for now, anyone adventurous can take a look around the new interface.

The other major upgrade that will be completed for the 2007-2008 season in a later release is Data Validation functionality which will allow you to run clean-up and validation functionality of your online registration data against standardized data from CCC and FIS.  This will greatly simplify the race organizes job of ensuring all the registration data is correct and complete and will further help reporting and startlist generation when you know you have correct data.