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Does a PHP upgrade mean I have to upgrade my site to Joomla 1.5? |
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Tuesday, 23 August 2011 |
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The PHP evolution can mean that PHP is changed to a point where the
sites suddenly stop working then the client is forced to migrate on
pressure of imminent site death. Good to focus the mind but it could
suggest to them that this CMS route is not as sensible as they might
have thought. If site lifetime is only 2-3 years before major
redevelopment is required then the returns on their investment are not
as good as the client expects.
Instead, I find a host that is willing to keep running the correct
version of PHP to run my older sites. All I lose is the ability to keep
up with the current version of Joomla (which worries me with regard to
security but I hope I have that covered too). None of my clients have
expressed disatisfaction with their sites' functionality and except for
the current trend to link up to social networking sites the old sites
still have the ability to match what can be built in 1.6, especially as
they are not using any of the new stuff that 1.6 provides.
From the client's point of view they have a site that works, is it
going to break? No. Is it going to change? No. Is it going to be hacked?
So far, no.
What will I materially gain from the upgrade? Not much.
Will I gain in some esoteric way regarding being supported by an open
source group of remote well-wishers that might help me with an undefined
future problem? Yes - in a fashion.
Is there another version of Joomla in the offing? - Yes there always is,
so why bother to do this migration when we will have to do another very
shortly? J1.0 to 1.5 or 1.6 or 1.7? Which is it to be? I don't want to
do all this again. I don't want to have to explain again to my 20-30
clients that in a short while the upgrade that gave them so little last
time has to be done again!
So, is it time to upgrade? There is no question, the answer is No. The
client won't pay as there is no reason. The only thing that will cause
them to migrate is the imminent upgrade by the host of PHP to a version
that just won't work with their version of Joomla.
I am disillusioned by this whole process and if it wasn't for my
significant investment in terms of knowledge and time in Joomla I would
think about a migration to another platform altogether. In my opinion
there is a lot to be gained personally from migrating to another
platform. A new learning experience, it would be interesting, widen my
skillset. Compared to searching for new versions of the same old Joomla
extensions, replicating the same old template, exporting the content,
replicating the structure, and doing that for 30 sites - how completely,
soul-destroyingly dull.
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