Update: Scratch is live – check it out at scratch.mit.edu.

It’s a good day for the much anticipated release of the Scratch 2.0 beta. It’s live and you can take it for a test drive. Click the Create link at to create a project. This beta is a flash-based, cloud living, browser dependent version. Hopefully, the standalone version won’t be far behind.

The first thing I noticed was the the page layout has changed when you are in “create” mode. The Scripts Area is on the right and the stage is on the left. I’m sure there’s a reason, but as a person who is used to reading and working left-to-right, the right-to-left workflow is jarring at first.

But there are many worthwhile and fun features tucked in this releases including video, cloning, vector graphics, and backpack (to allow you to share scripts/sprites). View the Scratch 2.0 overview. The list of planned features looks even more appealing including an export to YouTube version.