I think Gordon has the answer... Database updates cannot be guaranteed without following the 5 to 6 to 7 methodology.  You will be left with a buggy site as a result.  I agree that there is nothing to say you couldn't never show the drupal 6 site as a live site.  You're just using it to get the schema updates.

Of course if you are doing the work as a consultant, the number one reason that will convince them is that it will cost you more time and them more Money :).  

Of course that's only after you've verified that you have the contrib module coverage that you need...

I hope that's helpful and not all too obvious.

Sent from my iPad

On Jan 14, 2011, at 2:57 PM, nan wich <nan_wich@bellsouth.net> wrote:

That's a good article. I suspect his approach worked because he was already intimately familiar with the site. My task would be to go into a customer's site that I haven't even seen yet, let alone explored internally.
 
However, the question is what to say to the customer, not how to do it.
 

Nancy

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. -- Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.



From: Randy Fay <randy@randyfay.com>
To: development@drupal.org
Sent: Fri, January 14, 2011 4:45:55 PM
Subject: Re: [development] Upgrading Drupal

You have to upgrade from the last Drupal 5 to the last Drupal 6 and then to Drupal 7.

Quicksketch posted an alternate approach: http://quicksketch.org/node/5739

-Randy

On Fri, Jan 14, 2011 at 4:39 PM, nan wich <nan_wich@bellsouth.net> wrote:
I suspect I know the answer but am looking for reasons to convince a potential customer. The question is: Can you jump from Drupal 5 to Drupal 7 in one fell swoop? I see upgrading contribs as one of the biggest obstacles with API changes being the next one in line (assuming there is site-specific custom code).
 

Nancy

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. -- Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.




--
Randy Fay
Drupal Module and Site Development
randy@randyfay.com
+1  970.462.7450