If you’d like to embed the WordPress 3.0 video tour in your blog, copy and paste this code for the high quality version:

<embed src="http://v.wordpress.com/wp-content/plugins/video/flvplayer.swf?ver=1.21" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="360" wmode="transparent" seamlesstabbing="true" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" overstretch="true" flashvars="guid=BQtfIEY1&amp;width=640&amp;height=360&amp;locksize=no&amp;dynamicseek=false&amp;qc_publisherId=p-18-mFEk4J448M" title="Introducing WordPress 3.0 &quot;Thelonious&quot;"></embed>

For a more comprehensive look at everything that has improved in 3.0 check out 3.0′s Codex page or the long list of issues in Trac. (We’re trying to keep these announcement posts shorter.) Whew! That’s a lot packed into one release. I can’t think of a better way to kick off the 3.X cycle we’ll be in for the next two and a half years.

The Future

Normally this is where I’d say we’re about to start work on 3.1, but we’re actually not. We’re going to take a release cycle off to focus on all of the things around WordPress. The growth of the community has been breathtaking, including over 10.3 million downloads of version 2.9, but so much of our effort has been focused on the core software it hasn’t left much time for anything else. Over the next three months we’re going to split into ninja/pirate teams focused on different areas of the around-WordPress experience, including the showcase, Codex, forums, profiles, update and compatibility APIs, theme directory, plugin directory, mailing lists, core plugins, wordcamp.org… the possibilities are endless. The goal of the teams isn’t going to be to make things perfect all at once, just better than they are today. We think this investment of time will give us a much stronger infrastructure to grow WordPress.org for the many tens of millions of users that will join us during the 3.X release cycle.

It Takes a Village

I’m proud to acknowledge the contributions of the following 218 people to the 3.0 release cycle. These are the folks that make WordPress what it is, whose collaboration and hard work enable us to build something greater than the sum of our parts. In alphabetical order, of course.

Committers: azaozz (Andrew Ozz) (prof), dd32 (Dion Hulse) (prof), donncha (Donncha O Caoimh) (prof), iammattthomas (Matt Thomas) (prof), josephscott (Joseph Scott) (prof), markjaquith (Mark Jaquith) (prof), matt (Matt Mullenweg) (prof), nacin (Andrew Nacin) (prof), nbachiyski (Николай Бачийски) (prof), ryan (Ryan Boren) (prof), westi (Peter Westwood) (prof), and wpmuguru (Ron Rennick) (prof). Contributors: aaroncampbell (Aaron Campbell) (prof), akerem (prof), alexkingorg (Alex King) (prof), amattie (prof), ampt (Luke Gallagher) (prof), andrea_r (prof), andreasnrb (Andreas Nurbo) (prof), anilo4ever (Angelo Verona) (prof), apeatling (Andy Peatling) (prof), apokalyptik (Demitrious Kelly) (prof), arena (André Renaut) (prof), barry (Barry Abrahamson) (prof), batmoo (Mohammad Jangda) (prof), beaulebens (Beau Lebens) (prof), belg4mit (prof), bigdawggi (Matthew G. Richmond) (prof), blepoxp (Glenn Ansley) (prof), brentes (Brent Shepherd) (prof), briancolinger (Brian Colinger) (prof), bumbu (prof), caesarsgrunt (Caesar Schinas) (prof), camiloclc (prof), CAMWebDesign (prof), carbolineum (prof), caspie (prof), catiakitahara (Cátia Kitahara) (prof), CharlesClarkson (Charles Clarkson) (prof), chdorner (Christof Dorner) (prof), chrisbliss18 (Chris Jean) (prof), chrisscott (Chris Scott) (prof), cnorris23 (Brandon Allen) (prof), coffee2code (Scott Reilly) (prof), computerwiz908 (prof), cyberhobo (Dylan Kuhn) (prof), dancole (Dan Cole) (prof), Daniel Koskinen , deepak.seth (Deepak Seth), demetris (Δημήτρης Κίκιζας) (prof), Denis-de-Bernardy (prof), dimadin (Milan Dinić) (prof), dndrnkrd (Dan Drinkard) (prof), docwhat (prof), dougwrites ( href="http://profiles.wordpress.org/dougwrites">prof), dphiffer (Dan Phiffer) (prof), dragoonis (prof), dremeda (Dre Armeda) (prof), dtoj , dougal (Dougal Campbell) (prof), duck_ (Jon Cave) (prof), dxjones (David Jones) (prof), eddieringle (Eddie Ringle) (prof), edward mindreantre (Edward Hevlund), eoinomurchu (prof), empireoflight/Ben Dunkle (prof), ericmann (Eric Mann) (prof), etiger13 (Eddie Monge Jr.) (prof), filosofo (Austin Matzko) (prof), firebird75 (prof), frankieroberto (Frankie Roberto) (prof), Frumph (Philip M. Hofer) (prof), garyc40 (Gary Cao) (prof), gautam2011 (prof), Gary Ross (Gazzer) , GDragoN (Milan Petrovic) (prof), greenshady (Justin Tadlock) (prof), GIGALinux (Dennis Morhardt) (prof), hakre (prof), husky (prof), iandstewart (Ian Stewart) (prof), ipstenu (Mika Epstein) (prof), jacobsantos (Jacob Santos) (prof), jamescollins (James Collins) (prof), jane (Jane Wells) (prof), jbsil (Jesse Silverstein) (prof), jdub (Jeff Waugh) (prof), jeffikus (Jeffrey Pearce) (prof), jeffstieler (Jeff Stieler) (prof), jeremyclarke (Jeremy Clarke) (prof), jfarthing84 (Jeff Farthing) (prof), Jick (James Dimick) (prof), jmstacey (Jon Stacey) (prof), jobjorn (Jobjörn Folkesson) (prof), johanee (Johan Eenfeldt) (prof), johnbillion (John Blackbourn) (prof), johnjamesjacoby/jjj (John James Jacoby) (prof), johnjosephbachir (John Joseph Bachir) (prof), johnl1479 (John Luetke) (prof), johnonolan (John O’Nolan) (prof), JohnPBloch/wmrom (John Bloch) (prof), joostdevalk/yoast (Joost de Valk) (prof), jorbin (Aaron Jorbin) (prof), joshtime (prof), jshreve (prof), junsuijin (prof), kallewangstedt (Karl Wångstedt) (prof), keighl (Kyle Truscott) (prof), kevinB (Kevin Behrens) (prof), koopersmith (Daryl Koopersmith) (prof), kpdesign (Kim Parsell)
(prof), ktdreyer (Ken Dreyer) (prof), kurtmckee (Kurt McKee) (prof), laceous (prof), lancewillett (Lance Willett) (prof), lloydbudd (Lloyd Budd) (prof), lriggle (prof), markauk (prof), markmcwilliams (Mark McWilliams) (prof), markoheijnen (Marko Heijnen) (prof), markup (Sasha Mukhin) (prof), mattsains (prof), matveb (Matias Ventura) (prof), mdawaffe (Michael Adams) (prof) , mentel_br (prof), messenlehner (Brian Messenlehner) (prof), miau_jp (prof), Michael (Michael Heilemann) (prof), MichaelH (prof), mikeschinkel (Mike Schinkel) (prof), Miloslav Beňo , minusfive (prof), miqrogroove (Robert Chapin) (prof), misterbisson (Casey Bisson) (prof), mitchoyoshitaka (mitcho (Michael 芳貴 Erlewine)) (prof), MMN-o (prof), momo360modena (Amaury Balmer) (prof), morganestes (Morgan Estes) (prof), mrmist (David McFarlane) (prof), mtdewvirus (Nick Momrik) (prof), nadavvin (prof), Nao (Naoko McCracken) (prof), nathanrice (Nathan Rice) (prof), neoxx (Bernhard Riedl) (prof), niallkennedy (Niall Kennedy) (prof), ninjaWR (Ryan Murphy) (prof), noel (Noël Jackson) (prof), nomulous (Fletcher Tomalty) (prof), ocean90 (Dominik Schilling) (prof), Otto42 (Samuel Wood) (prof), pedger (prof), PeteMall (prof), pampfelimetten (prof), pnettle (prof), PotterSys (Juan) (prof), prettyboymp (Michael Pretty) (prof), ptahdunbar (Ptah Dunbar) (prof), ramiy (prof), RanYanivHartstein (Ran Yaniv Hartstein) (prof), reaperhulk (Paul Kehrer) (prof), reko (prof), remi (Rémi Prévost) (prof), rlerdorf (Rasmus Lerdorf) (prof) , rmccue (Ryan McCue) (prof), rooodini (prof), rovo89 (prof), ruslany ( "http://profiles.wordpress.org/ruslany">prof), sc0ttkclark (Scott Kingsley Clark) (prof), scottbasgaard (Scott Basgaard) (prof), ScottMac (prof), scribu (prof), SergeyBiryukov (Сергей Бирюков) (prof), ShaneF (prof), sillybean (Stephanie Leary) (prof), Simek (Bartosz Kaszubowski) (prof), simonwheatley (Simon Wheatley) (prof), simosx (Σίμος Ξενιτέλλης) (prof), sirzooro (Daniel Frużyński) (prof), sivel (Matt Martz) (prof), skeltoac (Andy Skelton) (prof), snumb130 (Luke Howell) (prof), solarissmoke (Samir Shah) (prof), sorich87 (prof), ssandison (prof), stencil (prof), stephdau (Stephane Daury) (prof), tai (prof), TECannon (Tracy Cannon) (prof), technosailor (Aaron Brazell) (prof), tenpura (prof), thales.tede , TheDeadMedic (prof), thee17 (Charles E. Frees-Melvin) (prof), thetoine (Antoine Girard) (prof), tinkerpriest (c.bavota) (prof), TobiasBg (Tobias Bäthge) (prof), tomtomp (prof), tychay (Terry Chay) (prof), typeomedia (prof), uglyrobot (Aaron Edwards) (prof), UnderWordPressure (prof), usermrpapa (prof), Utkarsh (Utkarsh Kukreti) (prof), validben (Benoit Gilloz ) (prof), Viper007Bond (Alex Mills) (prof), vladimir_kolesnikov (Vladimir Kolesnikov) (prof), willmot (Tom Willmot) (prof), wahgnube (prof), waltervos (Walter Vos) (prof), wds-chris (Christopher Cochran) (prof), williamsba1 (Brad Williams) (prof), wnorris (Will Norris) (prof), xibe (Xavier Borderie) (prof), yoavf (Yoav Farhi) (prof), zeo (Safirul Alredha) (prof), znarfor (François Hodierne) (prof), and zoranzaric (Zoran Zaric) (prof).

Bonus

If you’ve made it this far, check out my 2010 State of the Word speech at WordCamp San Francisco, it’s jam-packed with information on the growth of WordPress, 3.0, what we’re planning for the future, and the philosophy of WordPress.

This is an early beta. This means there are a few things we’re still finishing. We wanted to get people testing it this weekend, so we’re releasing it now rather than waiting another week until everything is finalized and polished. There’s a ton of stuff going on in 3.0, so this time we’re giving you a list of things to check out, so that we can make sure people are testing all the things that need it.

You Should Know:

• The custom menus system (Appearance > Menus) is not quite finished. In Beta 2, the layout will be different and a bunch of the functionality will be improved, but we didn’t want to hold things up for this one screen. You can play with making custom menus, and report bugs if you find them, but this is not how the final screen will look/work, so don’t get attached to it.
• The merge! Yes, WordPress and WordPress MU have merged. This does not mean that you can suddenly start adding a bunch of new blogs from within your regular WordPress Dashboard. If you’re interested in testing the Super Admin stuff associated with multiple sites, you’ll need some simple directions to get started.
• We’re still fiddling with a few small things in the UI, as we were focused on getting the more function-oriented code finished first. For example, we’re getting a new icon for the Super Admin section.

Things to test:

• Play with the new default theme, Twenty Ten, including the custom background and header options.
• Custom Post Type functionality has been beefed up. It’s really easy to add new types, so do that and see how it looks!
• WordPress MU users should test the multiple sites functionality to make sure nothing broke during the merge.

Already have a test install that you want to switch over to the beta? Try the beta tester plugin.

Testers, don’t forget to use the wp-testers mailing list to discuss bugs you encounter.

We hope you like it! And if you don’t, well, check back when beta 2 is ready.

Download the WordPress 3.0 Beta 1 now!