Joomla 17
Joomla 17 is being released in late July 2011 and support for joomla 16 will cease in August 2011.
This is exactly as joomla had said they would release. We always knew 16 was a short lived release but that did not stop over 2000 addons being created for it. This is good news as joomla is now backed by over 2000 developers who are committed to developing addons for joomla into the future.
This Joomla announcement makes things clearer, and here are the important points you need to know:
Availability:
First off, Joomla 1.7 is due to be released for general availability on July 19, 2011. That’s right around the corner, so if you’re one that likes to be on the forefront of updates, get prepared now.
Upgrading:
Upgrading from a 1.6 site will be fairly easy using the extension manager in the same way that you would perform an upgrade from 1.6.2 to 1.6.3. As always, make sure you backup first.
Upgrading from a 1.5 site will not be so easy. Any extensions you are using will need to be updated too, and not all developers have made their extensions available for 1.6, or 1.7 for that matter. This will most likely be your biggest hurdle. Upgrading Joomla from 1.5 to 1.7 will require the use of the jUpgrade component; however, you will be able to skip 1.6 and go directly to 1.7 when it is released. Our advice is to list all the components you use, see if there is a 16 compatible version, if there is not then see if you really need this component, if not then its an oppertunity to ditch it and go for the upgrade.
Support:
Of course with every new version rollout, an old version will fall out of support. This time around Joomla 1.5 will continue to be supported until April of next year, but 1.6 will not be supported after August 10 of this year. Letting your installation fall out of support leaves you open to exploits, hacks etc of which there will be no fixes available. Keeping up to date is never a big job if it is done regularly, if it is let run out, then it is a bigger task. We have seen clients still on legacy versions of Mambo looking for upgrades to joomla 16, unfortunately leaving an upgrade this long requires a rebuild of the site. This is what happens when you ignore the upgrade advice for a long time.
What should you do?
If you have a 1.6 site, 1.7 is not going to have any major new changes, so there’s no need to upgrade right away. You might like to wait a couple of weeks just in case the new version has some critical bugs, but aim to upgrade before August 10 as that’s when the support for 1.6 officially ends. Our advice always is never user a version zero of any software. Version zero is a code in the software business for "we will now let the public do the final testing on the product".
If you have a 1.5 site, our previous advice still applies. There is no reason to upgrade unless you’re looking for the extra functionality in 1.6, and now 1.7. However, support for 1.5 will officially end April of 2012, and it is a good idea to work towards updating before then so your site remains up-to-date and free from any nasties.
