GPL License = It's YOURS!
This is the best thing about Open Source software. Joomla is
released under the GPL public license and from a legal perspective, it is
YOUR software. This means that nobody can tell you what to do with it.
If you don't want to upgrade it, then that's fine. If you want to customise it to
suit your needs, that's also fine. If you want to add more features? Fine. Nobody can
take it back. It's not a lease or a rental - you own it!
If you have a heavily customised site that is built on J1.0 that works
really well, is on a secure server, well backed up and does the job,
then it is safe and secure so what's the point of upgrading? There are many Thousands of J1.0 sites out there and joomla
1.0 has been forked by others and is still supported by them.
Upgrades vs Updates vs Migrations:
The move from J1.0 to j1.5 was a migration and a pretty big one. Bear in
mind if you have two or three J1.0 sites, then each might take a few
days to migrate, it is often deemed easier to create the site from
scratch. Lets make it clear - that is a new site that you have to
pay for in time or money.
J1.5 to J1.6 is another migration...not
an upgrade. J1.7 and J2.5 will also be migrations. A migration means
exporting your data and importing it into the new database, finding
updated versions of all your extensions, modules and plugins and
upgrading each in turn, including all the corresponding data...
As
time goes on the tools to do a migration are becoming more available
but the fundamental fact is that a migration is a risky task and it
takes effort. It is an uninteresting and boring task to all concerned.
No-one really
benefits much, and it is a significantly time-consuming chore.
Having said this, if you want to take advantage of the
latest and greatest extensions then you need a version that is well
supported in this respect... Joomla 1.0 has been around for years so
plenty of updates are still available. Joomla 1.5 has been the platform
of choice for developers for an equally long time and extensions will be
available for years to come. J1.6/7 are not equally well supported,
yet...
Security Updates:
We are NOT talking about the minor security releases that the Joomla
team releases (e.g. from Joomla 1.5.08 to 1.5.23). These are
important! Ensure your version of Joomla is fully patched, so if you have the J1.0 version you should be running 1.0.15.
If you are running on a well secured server, have regular backups and implement a good security regime with regard to passwords &c you should be safe and secure.
Other Vulnerabilities:
When you install the latest version of a software product then you are deliberately acting as a guinea pig for all the bugs and issue that will inevitably arise. For instance, early versions of Joomla 1.7 seem to have performance problems, especially in comparison to Joomla 1.0. Joomla 1.7 has complex SELECT statements that seem to be causing site slowdowns when the site has a lot of content. Due these typical problems it is always best to avoid upgrading to a major version within the first year. This is when the majority of bugs will be identified and fixed, vulnerabilities will be closed down. This is not a good period to be building a new website or upgrading an old. With this approach in mind, 1.7 must be avoided until mid-way through 2012 and Joomla 2.5 must not even be approached until 2013! Until then stick to the solid old Joomla 1.5.
Joomla Platform Release Dates:
Joomla 1.0 - September 2005 (no longer supported by Joomla team)
Joomla 1.5 - January 2008 (support ends April 2012)
Joomla 1.6 - 10 January 2011 (already no longer supported by Joomla team)
Joomla 1.7 - 06 June 2011
Joomla 2.5 - January 2012 Proposed Delivery Date
So, to clarify:
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1. You do NOT need to upgrade your site from Joomla 1.0 to 1.5
I've
got dozens of clients who are still running Joomla 1.0 sites just
fine. There a re no security vulnerabilities in this software, and if
you do not need features that exist only in a newer platform, there is
no reason to upgrade.
2. You will NOT need to upgrade your site from Joomla 1.5 to 1.6
We've
all got dozens of clients who are still running Joomla 1.5 sites just
fine. There are no security vulnerabilities in this software, as long
as you have the latest release, version 1.5.23. If
you do not need features that exist only 1.6, there is
no reason to upgrade (1.6 provided nested categories and ACLs). Remember
Joomla 1.6 is unsupported by the Joomla team so if you upgrade to 1.6
you are already out of date!
3. You will NOT need to upgrade your site from Joomla 1.5 to 1.7
If
you do not need features that exist only 1.7 there is
no reason to upgrade (Nested categories and ACLs, enhanced security and improved migration tools).
4. You will NOT need to upgrade your site from Joomla 1.5 to 2.5
Joomla 2.5 LTS will not be around for a while yet, even when it arrives I
don't plan on using Joomla 2.5 for production sites until all the
extensions I use are compatible with it and the majority of bugs have
been ironed out, a few months
after it is released - we can let others serve as the guinea pigs
5. You NEED to update your Joomla software when security patches are released.
(These updates typically only take a few minutes to install.)
There is a really informative diagram at http://www.themepartner.com
whicsets out a flow chart regarding the decision making process for
deciding to upgrade or not. I may create one of my own as it leaves out a
couple of options. However, it is still a very good guide. Have a look
at it here: click the image to view a bigger version. Kudos goes to themepartner for creating this succinct document.
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To sum up:
Older versions of Joomla can easily run faster then later versions,
speed being one of the metrics Google uses to determine website ranking.
Jooml 1.5+ are heavier and slower beasts. Joomla 1.0 is a fine CMS and
with all the tools and plugins available you can still create a fine
site with it. Google ranking is achievable with any Joomla CMS. Joomla
has been upgraded in a certain direction because that is what the
current Joomla devs want to do, nothing more. Joomla 1.0 has been
successfully forked and is being used today in another notable CMS,
namely Joostina. Joomla 1.5 will carry on being the Joomla mainstay for
years to come. The regular and frequent release schedule of current
Joomla is a reason for NOT upgrading.
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