YJ 2011 Development Roadmap
All projects , no matter how big or how small , demand proper strategy and plan execution. Joomla 1.6 is here and new Joomla updates plan is advising us that next 2 Joomla releases will have short life span. 6 months to be exact. It is time for change and you should not be afraid of it. Youjoomla will guide you step by step to your up to date Joomla installation.
Keep it simple!
We promise to keep our updates and releases as simple as possible. No matter if the product in question is template , extensions or module. Our goal is to make the update as painless as possible. One click upgrade installations will take away all the stress of your shoulders and you will be able to continue with your project after the page refresh.
What is our goal?
Release minimum 1 Joomla template per month and update all our products to Joomla 1.6 before Joomla 1.7 release. Are we going to make it you ask? Let us look at the statistics:
We converted 9 templates and 14 extensions within first 4 weeks of our conversion process. Joomla 1.7 is due July-2011 and that is approx 4 months away. Or 16 work weeks. Whit current pace , this should result in minimum 32 more templates and 56 extensions conversions.
If you look at our conversion tracker , some of our demos will not be released for Joomla 1.6 ( older ones ) which will give us additional time to update remaining 13 templates to Joomla 1.6. This is a realistic goal and our team will do their best to finish it before Joomla 1.6 end of life.
What happens after Joomla 1.6?
Joomla 1.6 should reach end of life in August-2011 , from there all our future products will be released for Joomla 1.5 and Joomla 1.7. Joomla developers have advised that Joomla 1.6 to Joomla 1.7 conversion should not be as demanding as Joomla 1.5 to Joomla 1.6 , so we hope to convert all our products to Joomla 1.7 before Joomla 1.8 planned release (Jan-2012).
Joomla 1.8 should be a long life release and will be supported for next 18 months after Jan-2012. Joomla 1.5 end of life is expected in April - 2012 so our demos will be made for Joomla 1.8 only starting April - 2012. For more Joomla upgrades info , please visit Andrew Eddie Joomla co-founder post for a detail insight about Beyond Joomla 1.6.
What should you do ?
We are sure you have asked this question before and have visited plenty of "Should I update my Joomla" articles. But as everyone else have already advised you , this depends on your goal and demands. Joomla 1.5 is very stable , and also has few thousands extensions available. We as your Joomla products provider will support all Joomla versions as we did in the past so you are safe there. But before you jump on the "updates train" consider sticking with Joomla 1.5 for ad least next 6 months. Those 6 months should be enough time for many 3rd party extensions developers to update their products.
Will your customers understand it? You already sold yourself, why not sell the idea of Joomla 1.5 ? It is stable , has plenty extensions , and support from many Joomla 1.5 users. Here is a realistic scenario that should open your eyes. Joomla 1.6 released Jan-2011 , Joomla 1.6.1 released March 7th 2011 with 1250 files updated! Try to explain that to your customers. Remember the saying , "Good things come to those who wait" . So do exactly that. Wait few months and than preform your update.
