With the 6.20 (classic & GPU) and 6.22 (SMP) clients out, we can start looking forward to the next steps in client development. We still have some last bits of work to completely unify the clients, but the hard part is already completed there for the most part.
The 6.2x series introduces several new features for donors, but in time, the clients have been getting gradually more and more complex to use. The Win/SMP and multi-gpu setups are examples of very challenging setups. Our primary plans for the future are to make setup much easier, especially for the very challenging clients (Win/SMP, multi-gpu). Our dream client install would be a single installer that would install either the classic, SMP, or GPU client based on donor choices during the install process, and the installer would take care of complex install situations (such as multi-gpu).
It may take a while to get to a client installer like that. In the mean time, we are looking to improve our installation instructions to make the process easier with existing clients.
We have spent a lot of effort developing these new clients and putting all of our effort into getting them to run well (the GPU2 client/core has gotten a great deal of effort, which has paid off in the transition from GPU1 to GPU2). It’s now time to concentrate on usability and ease of installation.
Our hope is that with this completed, we will have a very advanced set of clients, but with very easy installation. That’s easier said than done, but that’s where we’re headed.