[consulting] preparing clients for Drupal 5 obsolesence

[Matt Chapman]

Fred Jones wrote:
> Why is it the right thing to do? I am not arguing--just asking,
> because I really don't know. If a D5 site is running perfectly and has
> all the functionality required and it has all security updates, what
> is the reason to upgrade it?
>   

The most important reason is that it *won't* have all security updates. 
After Drupal 7 is released, the security team will no longer release 
updates for Drupal 5.

Given the choice between 10-15 hours of upgrades now, or 5-10 hours of 
backporting future security patches over the next year or two, I'd 
rather spend the extra time to get my clients up to date.

It's also kinda like selling drugs: The first hit is free. Once they get 
a whiff of drag-and-drop weighting, I'm sure I can sell them on some 
other new feature I could build for their spiffy new D6 website.

A stagnant website is a dying website. Look how often Facebook, Yahoo, 
and Google add new features to their offerings. I don't want my clients 
to stay happy with the way things are. I want them to be dreaming of 
bigger and better things, and an upgrade is a good catalyst for such 
dreaming.

Finally, making sure the sites in my portfolio are up to date is good 
for marketing. Would you hire a developer right now who's portfolio is 
mostly 4.7 sites?

Best,

Matt