After whetting appetites with five release candidates, Movable Type 4.2 was released today with a pile of new features and enhancements that make the payoff well worth the anticipation.

Like many of its peers, Movable Type is evolving into much more than just a blogging platform with each release, and 4.2 is no exception. Building on the solid foundation of its blogging and content management functionality, MT 4.2 adds a substantial new set of functionality in support of social networking.

The batching together of blogging, content management, and social networking under one roof also is marked by the formal launch of Movable Type Pro, which, while still free to bloggers, extends the system's core functionality. From Byrne Reese's post about the release of 4.2 on the Movable Type Community Blog:

MT Pro combines the power and flexibility of the open source core Movable Type with the rich content management capabilities of the Movable Type Professional Pack, and all the community features of the Movable Type Community Solution.

Probably the most trumpeted accomplishment of Movable Type 4.2 is the improvement in speed across the board. Page publication speed has been greatly improved, as has end-user-facing search. Movable Type's user community has been clamoring for these improvements for quite some time, and 4.2 really delivers.

Other improvements sure to be appreciated by Movable Type users include simplified templates, full integration of TypePad AntiSpam, and multiple security enhancements.

On the social networking front, 4.2 adds support for forums, group blogs, and for user profile creation, which is intended to allow the creation of true communities. Also built in are capabilities for voting content up and down, a concept familiar to fans of Digg.com.

For a full rundown of the enhancements, check out the release announcement post. You'll find additional details on the various versions and license options on Movable Type's download page. And don't worry about treading in untested waters -- there's already a solid set of documentation for getting started and upgrading to 4.2 on Movabletype.org.