[Ed. Note: this was originally published on a now-defunct site in 2013. Republished (and back-dated) here because seven years later people are still running old versions of Joomla 1.5! Also, Joomla is still a far better CMS than WP. WordPress is like the Microsoft of CMS systems… everyone is using it, but not because it’s the best solution.]
According to W3Techs, as of the beginning of July 2013, 63% of all Joomla sites are running version 1.x. Of these, some 92% are running version 1.5. That works out to a rather large 58% of all Joomla sites running 1.5! The other 5% are mostly version 1.6 and 1.7. [Aside: if your site is one of those 5% please just upgrade now. It’s not going to be that painful and you are a sitting duck for hackers. By “now” I mean stop reading this and go upgrade. Seriously.]
So why is the number so high? There are usually a long list of factors, and most of them are valid. Here are the ones I hear regularly:
Simply porting the site is going to be a lot of work.
We just did our site a few years ago and don’t have the budget for it.
Things we rely upon didn’t make it to 2.5.
We hate change.
The site is outdated; if we’re going to update it we want to redesign it and that’s a big job.
There’s no reason to upgrade (AKA “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”).
You’re only telling me I need to upgrade because you want more business.
Every web site is different, so each of the reasons above can be more or less relevant depending on circumstances. At one end of the spectrum is the hobby site that generates no revenue, and doesn’t have much traffic. A site that could be off line for a few weeks or months and not suffer. I’m going to exclude them from this discussion.
For everyone else, the question to ask is “what’s the cost of having my site suddenly go to an ‘under construction’ page?” What’s the monetary value? What’s the value of lost reputation? Take a serious look at your situation and try to come up with a reasonable number. Compare this with the cost of upgrading your site. If the numbers are close, it’s probably a good idea to start budgeting. If the cost is significantly higher than upgrading, find the budget now because it’s time to start planning!
Here’s the key issue: the technologies that Joomla uses, most significantly PHP, are also changing over time. This chart illustrates the problem for Joomla 1.5:
PHP Version
Runs Joomla 1.5?
Status
5.2
Yes
Unsupported, past end-of-life, no updates.
5.3
Yes
End-of-Life cycle started March 2013, critical updates only.
5.4
NO
Supported.
5.5
NO
Supported (available as of June 2013).
To put it clearly: there is no currently supported version of PHP that will run Joomla 1.5! While that shouldn’t be panic-inducing, it is not something to be ignored. There’s a lot of code out there (not just Joomla) that will have problems running under PHP 5.4, and lots of hosting companies will continue to support it, including Abivia. But – and this is a big one – sooner or later your host is going to send out a notice saying that they’re moving to PHP 5.4 or 5.5. Depending on the host, you’re likely to get anywhere between a week to 90 days notice. Even at 90 days, that’s a pretty tight timeline for a mid-range site, particularly if you want to throw in a redesign at the same time.
This problem is made particularly challenging by the fact that the PHP folks chose to stick with the same major version number, even though they made some major changes to the language. There are some hosts who are just now retiring PHP 4. This was made possible because hosts could run PHP 4 in parallel with PHP 5. By not making recent versions PHP 6 and PHP 7, this mechanism is no longer available. If a host wants to support 5.4, they have to drop support for 5.3 at the same time.
So put your finger on the calendar a month from today, whatever day you happen to be reading this. Imagine that at the same moment you’re doing that, you get a notice from your host saying “PHP 5.3 will not longer supported after…” and substitute the date under your finger. If that makes you uncomfortable, then it’s time to start planning your upgrade!
A recent change in U.S. patent law allows third parties to discuss a patent’s merits and submit evidence of prior art. This provides a new method for challenging some of the utterly moronic patents the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has let slip by. (more…)
Welcome to the third major iteration of It’s Fixed in the Next Release. From Blogger (yuck) to Serendipity (which truly deserves more attention than it gets) to WordPress (market share wins, even in the open source world) here we are.
Speaking of open source, what you see here is only possible because of the FOSS (Free Open Source Software) model. Not only is the core of WordPress completely open, most of the themes, plugins, and tools are as well.
Independent of the cost, FOSS made this blog because the theme is a hybrid. The base theme is the free version of “Blogolife”. I’ve made some changes to it, both in terms of some invisible code rework, and by hacking in the tag display from “AskIt”, a commercial template I purchased for a project that died. At first I thought AskIt was going to do the trick, but in the end I just didn’t like the main page layout. Blogolife had the clean traditional blog feel but the display of tags and categories wasn’t all that great (I haven’t done anything to the categories yet).
I also removed all of Blogolife’s admin links and promotions for the “PRO” version. Needless to say I wasn’t likely to be buying that anyway.
It’s interesting hacking on WordPress code, and it’s a classic comparison between simplicity and power. I think it’s possible to keep most of the WordPress API in your head, and its possible to be a true expert on it in a year or so. Meanwhile, I’ve been working with Joomla for almost six years now, and it seems I keep on discovering new tricks, not including the outside-the-core stuff like template frameworks and the like. So there’s a freedom in WordPress that makes it possible to hack bits of two themes together in a few days and get something that works. But at the same time I feel like I’m working in a small shop with hand tools. By comparison Joomla feels like a manufacturing line full of robots — configure each one to do a job then watch the whole facility in action.
Each environment has its place. It’s actually more personally satisfying to feel you’ve built something by hand. WordPress certainly rocks the blogging / simple site space, but it has its limitations. Over in the Joomla development world we wrestle with issues like how to make it so those “robots” of ours plug into each other most effectively and with a minimum of code duplication. While we’re making it easier to plug things together I think we’d also be wise to keep an eye on offering freedom to site builders who need to produce a custom solution but only know the basics of PHP development. We never want to be in the position where someone says “Joomla is a great platform but you need a team of developers to build and run a site.”
After all, market share wins, even in the open source world.
I Twittered this but it deserves more permanence. I’ve been using it for years and unfortunately it still summarizes my frustration with browser based Javascript “WYSIWYG” text editors:
WYSIKSWYGBNQ = What You See Is Kinda Sorta What You Get But Not Quite.
Earlier today Amy Stephen and I had an interesting discussion on development teams, I thought it worth organizing and preserving. Because it’s a bit of a threaded conversation it takes a little work to follow the flow, but there’s no easy way to sort it out.
One of the most interesting things here is that even though I tend to take a bit of a hard-ass “no prisoners” approach to the problem, and Amy is fairly close to my polar opposite, we actually look at the fundamental problem in nearly the same way.
AmyStephen
Wondering about the market potential of the promise of a 1 day workshop that can turn a dysfunctional group into a high performance team. It’s puzzling to watch a dysfunctional group where members keep barriers to entry high and engage in intense, private battles within.
FxNxRl
Lets see… the seminar starts with a real-time attitude and teamwork survey, then lists who should be retained and who fired.
AmyStephen
That might do it – if management would so empower. Typically, you’ll find spineless leadership behind dysfunction.
FxNxRl
Indeed. I have done consulting assignments where I had to tell the person who hired me that they were the main problem. Awkward.
AmyStephen
So, how would you sort out the understandably frustrated’s from those who might be, shall we say, squelching innovation?
FxNxRl
Most of the time it’s pretty easy to tell one from the other by simply talking to them face to face.
AmyStephen
I used to think that I could tell quickly but now I am doubting my early instincts. It’s a bit unsettling, in fact. I can’t tell.
FxNxRl
What’s difficult is to unmask the passive-aggressive ones. Usually high-value team members who kill things by “contributing”.
FxNxRl
It is impossible to tell when there’s distance involved, and it can be difficult in person too.
FxNxRl
I once managed a team where I had to use source code control metrics to track project progress. Every time a project was really doing well, the lead developer would step in to “help” and the project would nearly stop. There was no way to fire him…
AmyStephen
Yes, it’s tricky when the one causing the problem has a great deal of authority. You have to control the process to figure it out.
AmyStephen
Source code control can be a great tool for lots of challenges simply because people who are traumatized can see justice/hope
AmyStephen
That is, provided they can commit to it, of course. Otherwise, it’s just another situation where they have to face this barrier.
FxNxRl
Yup, and it’s hard data in an environment where everyone has some emotional involvement no matter how hard they try not to.
FxNxRl
Development without revision control is art, not engineering.
FxNxRl
The very first thing is to put proven development methodologies in place. If there’s strong resistance, fire the dissidents.
AmyStephen
lol – I definitely do not agree, but I understand. Many times, your skeptics are simply people who think for themselves.
AmyStephen
In fact, you can bag anyone who’s onboard with change too quickly. Everyone should resist process changes if they are moving forward.
FxNxRl
I realized, at about age 45, that I had become the “asshole manager” I loathed at 25. Team results trump individual brilliance.
AmyStephen
In general, I think it’s a bad idea for mgmt to plunk a set of “productivity tools” on an engineer’s desk. Best to let them pick.
FxNxRl
Well yeah, you can’t say “effective Monday everyone is using SVN and methodology X”. The *method* of change is critical.
AmyStephen
I’m a HUGE believer in team. I think, though, the strongest teams are built from a complementary collection of individual brilliance.
FxNxRl
But the guys who say “never did it that way, ain’t gonna start now” and then dig in? Well they can do it “their way” elsewhere.
FxNxRl
So am I… and I have seen effective teams operate in mayhem. It’s all about getting complimentary characters.
AmyStephen
That’s why it’s important to involve them. Good engineers know what productivity aids are needed and welcome it. They resist “silly”
FxNxRl
I have seen highly effective teams with vastly different cultures. You could NEVER take a person from one of those teams and put them in the other. It’s all about getting people who work well together.
AmyStephen
Absolutely! I’ve worked on a team like that 2 times in my life. When you have tasted it, you know what it is & why it’s worth having
FxNxRl
I’ve also become friends with people who I’ve let go as a “parachute in manager/jerk”. They found teams where they fit & r happy
AmyStephen
Yes – there’s a chemistry that cannot be ignored. In MBTI, it’s the middle 2 indicators that can sometimes predict compatibility
AmyStephen
Yes. That’s best. A self-directed work team w clear boundaries and focus and empowerment. It’s how “grown-ups” should be treated.
FxNxRl
Dated though it may be I’m a huge MBO fan. Here’s what we need to do, tell me what you need to do it, then get it done.
FxNxRl
as long as it’s legal and ethical I don’t care how it gets done, just that I can measure progress and that there is progress.
AmyStephen
I don’t think common sense is ever dated. Keeping a focus on “what this is really about” is always good.
This is amazing stuff. The description from the YouTube page says it best: “This Code Swarm provides an animated visual representation of the changes made to the Joomla! source code since 2005. The names that appear are the users who have made changes to the source code. The stars/highlights represent commits made to the Subversion repository. The histogram to the bottom left displays activity. Look out for the date displayed in the right hand corner.”
That “instance” floating around in there is me. Even without the “holy cow, that’s me!” factor, this is a wonderful visualization tool.
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