...
- Prerelease Step 0: Olympic testnet - launched May 2015
- Release Step One: Frontier - launched 30 July 2015
- Release Step Two: Homestead - launches 14 March 2016 (Pi Day)
- Release Step Three: Metropolis - TBA release of the Mist browser, expected summer/fall 2016
- Release Step Four: Serenity - TBA (Ethereum 1.5): release of the proof of stake (Casper) version of the Blockchain, also including Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) 101 and 105. Expected early 2017
- WebAssembly release (‘Ethereum 1.75’): faster virtual machine. Expected 2017
- Ethereum 2.0 (yet unnamed): initial scalability release. Expected late 2017.
- Ethereum 3.0 (yet unnamed): ‘unlimited’ scalability release. Expected late 2018.
While still valid, the substance behind it has changed somewhat. The Olympic testnet phase (before the Frontier release) saw alot of major improvements, followed by Frontier which was launched immediately after. Homestead marks the exit from a beta product to a stable release. Homestead is introduced automatically at block number 1,150,000 which should occur roughly around March 14th, 2016, Pi Day.
...