
Joomla 2.5 is the latest Long Term Support version released by Joomla project and is here for at least till September 2013. It has lots of enhancements and progressions - more than 26 new features, and 4 security issues fixed. Also, the security release for the same i.e. 2.5.1 has come out already.
The most powerful features of Joomla 2.5 are Multi-Database Support, Database Fix, and Access Control List (ACL). Previously, it worked exclusively with MySQL, but now it also supports Microsoft SQL Server. In addition to that, the Database Version Fix button will check to see if your database is up-to-date with any database changes during upgrade, and will fix any error if encountered. With ACL one can create unlimited groups and assign desired access level permissions to the group such as edit, update, delete, publish, login etc. Other expedient features include:
1. Update Notification: The admin panel notifies on recent Joomla updates as well as for all the installed extensions.
2. In-built Captcha: With the integrated Captcha function, one can avoid the risk of spamming.
3. Unlimited nested categories: Allow adding unlimited subcategories easily.