18 04 2014
Sayonara Joomla LTS!
F-i-n-a-l-l-y! Goodbye, adieu, sayonara, άντε γεια & good riddance to Joomla LTS releases!
The Joomla team has decided to ditch the Ubuntu style release cycle (a truly WTF decision in the first place) and once and for all end confusion to developers, users, customers and clients from hell.
This means that the current release (3.x) is the current stable release. There is NO need to use Joomla 2.5 anymore. It won't be more stable compared to Joomla 3.x. And when 4.x is released, that will be the new stable release and so on.
An exception will be made for Joomla 2.5 and it will be supported until the end of 2014. Joomla development will then shift entirely to Joomla 3.x.
The Joomla team has decided to ditch the Ubuntu style release cycle (a truly WTF decision in the first place) and once and for all end confusion to developers, users, customers and clients from hell.
This means that the current release (3.x) is the current stable release. There is NO need to use Joomla 2.5 anymore. It won't be more stable compared to Joomla 3.x. And when 4.x is released, that will be the new stable release and so on.
An exception will be made for Joomla 2.5 and it will be supported until the end of 2014. Joomla development will then shift entirely to Joomla 3.x.
This is a good thing for everyone. For the Joomla core team (they will deal with one release only at a time), for Joomla extension developers and for Joomla integrators. This means faster release cycles, newer features coming in faster, less bugs, more Joomla users & clients happy. Everybody wins.
I'm assuming some fresh blood in the Joomla core team has finally convinsed the "wise" ones who run Joomla to move on with a better and more sane "strategy". Cause let's face it. Joomla may be far superior in technical terms compared to CMSs like WordPress or Drupal, but it has pushed people away with its weird "update" strategies ever since Joomla 1.6 was released and later on with the dual release maintenance plan (LTS and STS).
If you are a Joomla 2.5 user, make sure your extensions are 3.x compatible and simply upgrade to Joomla 3.x using an extension like CMS Update from akeebabackup.com. If you are an integrator, do the same for your clients. It's a 5 minute job if you got everything right. That's how long it took us to move joomlaworks.net from Joomla 2.5 to the latest 3.x release a couple of months ago (I bet you didn't notice the slightest bit of change...).
As JoomlaWorks, our plan is to end Joomla 1.5 support entirely with the launch of new updates for our commercial and free extensions before the summer. There will be an exception for K2 v2.x only, which we'll support with security updates until 2015. And at the end of 2014, we'll stop supporting Joomla 2.5 entirely in all our extensions. This will allow us to release updates more often and most importantly introduce new features much, much faster!
When you upgrade to Joomla 3.x, why not share it with the Joomla community? Use #sayonaraLTS on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ and share your upgrade experience - and if you are an integrator, your client's feedback.
Update: a short FAQ posted on joomla.org with more info
P.S. If you haven't noticed, my (late) new year's resolution is to stop writing Joomla as "Joomla". It's truly difficult for me as Joomla run in my veins since 2005. Let's hope the new "Joomla" marketing team will ditch the exclamation mark once and for all - a new logo wouldn't hurt too ;)
5 comments
-
Philipp Holz 16 Aug 2014 Comment LinkThe problem with no LTS Support is the security issue for the older versions. Many people are running Joomla 2.5 and I bet they won't upgrade to Joomla 3 due to incompatible extensions. Most of them don't have the budget to spend money for migrations or upgrades every year.
I hope they start developing a stable API which will be used for all future joomla versions. Or they just develop a legacy API to support older plugins. -
arini ambarwati 18 Jul 2014 Comment LinkFinally ... I have to say sayonara to that old style
bye.. bye.. -
Joshua Jacoby 13 Jul 2014 Comment LinkGood point Fotis, the update system has been one of the most off putting aspects of the Joomla system, and while UI may be more efficient in 3.0+, I never get to experience it, because my clients are always stuck on 1.6 with plugins that will never transfer.
I'll also point out that a lot of my clients seem to be more small business users with very small IT budgets, and they may be more inclined to WordPress, at this point in the game, but it will be exciting to see where the future take Joomla -
Kalczuk 01 Jul 2014 Comment LinkI like this :)
- Comment Link
You are right, it is a return to sanity. Also I have to say that I have never liked the exclamation mark in Joomla, I have to grit my teeth to make myself spell it that way.
Leave a comment
Make sure you enter all the required information, indicated by an asterisk (*). HTML code is not allowed.