Updated READMEs &c for 2.9.4 release.

Updated the text of the announcement posted to wx-announce too and mention it
in the release check list.

git-svn-id: https://svn.wxwidgets.org/svn/wx/wxWidgets/trunk@71985 c3d73ce0-8a6f-49c7-b76d-6d57e0e08775

docs/publicity/announce.txt

@@ -1,93 +1,78 @@
-Announcing wxWidgets 2.7.0: a cross-platform GUI toolkit
-----------------------------------------------------------------
+July 9, 2012 -- The wxWidgets team is pleased to announce the
+latest 2.9.4 release of wxWidgets library.
 
-August 5th, 2006 -- the wxWidgets team is pleased to announce
-a new release of the mature cross-platform C++ application framework.
+wxWidgets 2.9.4 is available at
 
-The following platforms are supported:
+        https://sourceforge.net/downloads/wxwindows/2.9.4/
 
-- Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP
-- Windows 64 on Itanium and x86-64 architectures
-- Windows CE, including Pocket PC 2003 and Smartphone 2003
-- Unix (Linux, *BSD, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64) and VMS with GTK+
-- Unix with X11 (beta)
-- Unix with Motif/Lesstif
-- Mac OS X using Carbon
-- Mac OS X using Cocoa (beta)
-- OS/2 (beta)
+and soon will also appear at our FTP mirror at
 
-To get wxWidgets, please go to the Download page at:
+        ftp://ftp.wxwidgets.org/pub/2.9.4/
 
-  http://www.wxwidgets.org/
+Please choose the archive format suitable for your platform, i.e. 7z
+or ZIP for Windows platforms and tar.bz2 for the Unix systems
+including OS X (all archives contain sources for all wxWidgets ports
+but they use different line endings) and follow the instructions in
+readme.txt file for installing it. Notice that if you decide to use
+the Windows installer (.exe file) you still need to build wxWidgets
+as only sources, not binaries, are installed.
 
-This is the first version in the new 2.7 development series. Please
-notice that this series is called "development" and not "stable"
-solely because ABI or API compatibility is not assured between
-different 2.7.x series versions.  Rest assured however that these
-potentially incompatible changes are made in order to evolve the
-toolkit to the next ABI stable release series (2.8.x) and that
-normally efforts are made to preserve compilation compatibility, so
-often moving to a new development release just requires a full
-recompile of the application using wxWidgets.  There are currently no
-known issues with the stability of the programs using this version.
+However, for the first time ever, we also experimentally provide the
+pre-built versions of wxMSW libraries built with several version of
+Microsoft Visual C++ compiler. You can download them from
 
-There have been many changes since the 2.6 series, please see the
-change log file included in the distribution for more details. The
-most significant additions to the GUI part of the libraries were:
+        https://sourceforge.net/downloads/wxwindows/2.9.4/binaries/
 
-    - AUI (advanced user interface) library providing dockable
-      windows and much more
-    - richtext library implementing wxRichTextCtrl
-    - New wxComboCtrl and wxOwnerDrawnComboBox controls
-    - New wxTreebook book-like control
-    - New wxColour/Dir/File/Font/PickerCtrls
-    - wxHyperlinkCtrl control
+Please see the README file there for the descriptions of the
+individual files.
 
 
-*** About wxWidgets
+This release mostly focuses on bug fixes in preparation for 3.0
+release, in particular there are a lot of improvements in wxOSX/Cocoa
+port. The most important new feature in this release is experimental
+support for building wxGTK with GTK+ 3 version of the toolkit. Other
+noteworthy additions are:
 
-wxWidgets is a comprehensive open-source, multi-platform C++ GUI
-framework, that can be used to build commercial and free
-software. First released in 1992 under the name wxWindows, it's
-increasingly used by organisations and individuals all over the
-world due to its winning combination of sophistication, wide
-platform coverage, ease of use, unrestrictive licence and
-vibrant user community.
+- Transparent background is now support for wxGTK windows.
+- New style directory selection dialog is now used in wxMSW.
+- Native wxDatePickerCtrl and wxTimePickerCtrl for wxOSX.
+- wxFSInputStream stream class for reading data from wxFileSystem.
+- wxGrid::Render() method allows to print or save wxGrid contents.
+- Strike-through fonts are now supported.
+- Horizontal mouse wheel events are now generated.
 
-For most ports, wxWidgets adopts the native look and feel of
-each platform since it uses the native widget sets. There is also
-a generic widget set, used for example by the wxX11 port - no
-other widget set is required, giving the potential for embedded
-use.
 
-An extraordinary range of classes is provided - but don't be put
-off by this because most people find wxWidgets easier to learn
-and use than MFC and other frameworks.
+The list of of changes since the 2.8 series is much too long to be
+listed here but the most important ones are:
 
-As well as comprehensive support for the usual widgets, advanced
-features include: HTML viewing/printing, wxImage class providing
-handlers for reading and writing many image types, resizable panels
-and dialogs on all platforms, document/view, OpenGL support,
-HTML-based and context-sensitive help, wizards, drag and drop,
-a grid class, ODBC support, threads, sockets, container classes,
-a styled text control, and much more. A 2,000-page reference manual
-is provided in HTML, MS HTML Help, WinHelp, wxWidgets Help and PDF
-formats, and there are over eighty samples and demos.
+- Completely overhauled Unicode support which is much easier to use.
+- New Cocoa-based wxOSX port for Mac OS X for both 32 and 64 bits.
+- New property grid and ribbon libraries are now included in wxWidgets.
+- Better interoperability with standard library classes.
+- Totally revised and more readable manual.
+- Improved debugging support.
 
-If you're an MFC user, you'll find many wxWidgets concepts
-reassuringly familiar, while often clearer and more consistent.
-If you're not, you should still find it intuitive from the start.
+Please see the changes.txt file in the "docs" subdirectory of
+wxWidgets distribution or also available online at
+https://sourceforge.net/projects/wxwindows/files/2.9.4/changes.txt/docs/changes.txt
+for more details and http://docs.wxwidgets.org/2.9.4/overview_changes_since28.html
+if you are upgrading from wxWidgets 2.8.
 
-wxWidgets bindings for many other languages are available,
-including Python, Perl, Basic, Lua, JavaScript and Eiffel.
 
-If you're considering wxWidgets, do check out some of these links:
+Note about naming: while 2.9.4 is called a "development" release,
+this only means that API is not guaranteed to remain unchanged in
+the subsequent 2.9.x releases (although it is very unlikely to change
+in incompatible ways at this stage), unlike in the stable 2.8.x branch
+where source and binary compatibility is always preserved between the
+different micro releases. We believe the current version is stable and
+suitable for use in production environment and recommend using it for
+any new projects using wxWidgets.
 
-    http://www.wxwidgets.org/about/feedback.htm ; Comments from users
-    http://www.wxwidgets.org/about/screensh.htm ; Screenshots
-    http://www.wxwidgets.org/about/users.htm    ; Some of our users
+We are especially looking forward to your feedback about the changes
+in this release compared to 2.8 version if you're upgrading. Please
+let us know about any regressions (http://trac.wxwidgets.org/newticket)
+so that we could fix them in the upcoming 3.0. Thanks in advance!
 
-Have fun!
-
-The wxWidgets team
+ Enjoy!
 
+Vadim Zeitlin, on behalf of wxWidgets development team.