Thread

If you are running EE 1.7.3 on a server with PHP 5.4, PHP will display errors about the usage of static methods (Utilities::extensions_manager) without the methods actually being declared as static.  As we have a client with this issue, I was wondering if EllisLab is intending to fix this issue with a new release or will you finally EOL the EE 1.x code?

I will now wait 2 business days for a response.

Oh, and if you do EOL EE 1.x finally, I know a few people who might be interested in taking it off your hands.

Hi Paul,

The Fate of ExpressionEngine 1 has been outlined here, here, and here.

Our stalwart friend is officially an EllisLab Legacy Product. As such, that there will be no more features added to EE 1, no more bug fixes, and the only possibility for a future update to EE 1 is in the case of a major security concern.

Let me know if I can answer any other questions!

Cheers,

Just making sure, as EllisLab has been a little bit shrouded in mystery and prone to sudden reversals this past year.  Also, you still have these forums available and no sign of the private support plans or Marcus Neto.  Good to know for sure that EE 1.x is completely off the table for bug fixes and that we’re completely on our own when fixing any issues that come up.

What about the question of truly open sourcing it?

Hi Steven,

I didn’t realize that was an expectation. To answer the question clearly then, ExpressionEngine 1 will not become Open Source software.

It wasn’t an expectation Kevin, merely a request.

So EE 1 will just die?

Ah, ok. It sounded like you were referring to a previous discussion I just wasn’t aware of. No worries.

So with commercial software in general, development continues in subsequent versions, and legacy releases receive only critical updates. Then after a bit more time, those releases are fully retired, receiving no more technical support or updates of any kind. The same is true with our software. For example, EE 1 is now legacy software, and pMachine Pro has been retired; we have no plans to Open Source our legacy or retired software. Of course, I would certainly encourage anyone still running an EE 1-based site to upgrade to the current version.

Hi Paul,

The Fate of ExpressionEngine 1 has been outlined here, here, and here.

Our stalwart friend is officially an EllisLab Legacy Product. As such, that there will be no more features added to EE 1, no more bug fixes, and the only possibility for a future update to EE 1 is in the case of a major security concern.

Let me know if I can answer any other questions!

Cheers,

So in this post: http://ellislab.com/blog/entry/reminder_ee_1_public_support_ending_soon

He says that they pushed the EOL until your paid support setup is available and no longer was it ending in April, so does that mean EE 1.x is still currently public supported? There was no clear date given for the new cut off.

We have wanted some fuel to stop supporting EE 1.x stuff as well, but as long as the EOL has not officially happened we are hesitant to do so ourselves.

Good to know for sure that EE 1.x is completely off the table for bug fixes and that we’re completely on our own when fixing any issues that come up.

I can’t help but be reminded of your own responses to those who asked for perpetual updates to pMachine Pro after you ended it, and that was in an era with a fraction of today’s user base and support costs. I suppose often many things in life are all about point of view.

He says that they pushed the EOL until your paid support setup is available and no longer was it ending in April, so does that mean EE 1.x is still currently public supported? There was no clear date given for the new cut off.

We have wanted some fuel to stop supporting EE 1.x stuff as well, but as long as the EOL has not officially happened we are hesitant to do so ourselves.

Correct, public support will be ending when those plans are rolled out, and a date for that has not yet been announced. And I imagine if we were making updates to 1.x, that pressure you’re feeling to continue 1.x support would only increase. I’d say pull that plug, but ultimately you know what’s going to be best for you and your customers and have to perform that risk assessment based on your own needs. I understand the challenges involved in that decision when the product itself is still receiving support, though.

If it helps, in our case the goal wasn’t to extend 1.x support or even that there was a perceived need to, it just seemed simpler and a smoother transition to retain continuity of support until larger changes are made.

Correct, public support will be ending when those plans are rolled out, and a date for that has not yet been announced.

Ah, OK. Kept thinking I missed an announcement of some correlation. Thanky!

No problemo Greg. If you decide to continue to match your 1.x support with ours, I’ll try and make sure you’re aware of our changes in advance so it’s not a big surprise on the day of, just let me know if that’s the case.

I can’t help but be reminded of your own responses to those who asked for perpetual updates to pMachine Pro after you ended it, and that was in an era with a fraction of today’s user base and support costs. I suppose often many things in life are all about point of view.

What you say is true, from a certain point of view.  If you recall, Rick wrote a blog post officially ending the development of pMachine Pro and making it a free download with the forums staying active for years afterwards.  Not only that, I wrote and released a new version, pMachine Pro 2.4, that was meant to make the codebase compatible with new versions of PHP that had been released and were causing issues.  I even released pMachine 2.4.1 many months later at the request of a few users who still had a few niggling bugs.  This despite the product no longer being sold AND the pMachine forums being almost completely inactive.  It was work and effort that might have been better spent elsewhere, but I always felt a strong loyalty to our users.

However, ExpressionEngine 1.x has been treated substantially different, my old Padawan.

The End of Life for ExpressionEngine 1.x has slipped numerous times and if the blog posts above are any indication, it has yet to officially happened.  Numerous sites, some of them quite substantial in traffic and complication, are still running ExpressionEngine 1.x.  One of the things that the site I am currently working on has been waiting for is a Gallery module importer.  Something that EllisLab promised for years and never delivered.  As nothing has been heard in quite a while, I have been hired to write that which you have not.  There are also numerous modules and extensions that will need to be updated or removed, as certain hooks are no longer available in ExpressionEngine 2.x.

This brings to mind a similar conversation you and I had years ago when PHP 5.3 was released and ExpressionEngine 1.x was spitting out errors left and right.  Your original response was that EllisLab was not intending to release an update as people should simply update to ExpressionEngine 2.x, which did not have any issues. If you recall, my response was to start modifying EE 1.x’s files to be PHP 5.3 compatible and send them to you for beta testing.  That seems to no longer be an option.

If EllisLab does not wish to expend the time and resources to fix these issues, I understand.  It is your product and going by the current state of things you obviously need to spend time elsewhere.  However, we have clients who still need these fixes, and the community (myself included) are going to look to you; a first party solution is always preferred to hacking.  However, it looks like we are on our own and will have to take care of it ourselves until such time as we can get all clients updated to ExpressionEngine 2.x or some other CMS.  That’s all I wanted to know.

Sure thing, Paul. Hopefully I’ve been able to clarify our EOL process for you in my post above. There are two stages. The first has happened (as of December 5th, 2011) and the second is yet to come (when no support is available and no updates of any kind will be released).

Is there anything else I can help you with?

Speaking too early and promising a future that cannot or should not be delivered is not a problem new to EllisLab, nor one that you didn’t share in (commerce, community modules). I do not excuse it, because it makes things more difficult than they should be when a disappointment occurs, regardless of whether it’s the resut of a technical or business decision; it doesn’t provide a solution to that specific individual’s problem, but they’ve been expecting one. You’re experiencing that now from a different point of view, which was my only point. I feel like having the perspective of one who has worked with you and seeing how you choose to direct your energy now, I have much more to say, but a public forum does not do you, me, or any in the community any good.

Thanks for the feedback, Paul, it was good talking with you again, and I sincerely hope you are able to help your client, whatever the solution may be.