[infrastructure] Re: [development] Drupal 4.5 unsupported

[blogdiva at culturekitchen.com]

Thanks Greg,

I hope you are not being sarcastic :) But, since you mention it ...  
Here's an example of what I was talking about :

> On  27.May.2006, at 02:39 PM, Gerhard Killesreiter wrote:
> Interested parties wil observe that there aren't any earlier  
> releases than 4.5 listed on drupal.org. Our policy was always to  
> support the latest two releases. If we do support, then we offer  
> tarballs, if we don't we don't.
>
> Unless something better comes up, I will remove the files tomorrow.
>

Why would anybody consider TECH SUPPORT equal to letting consumers of  
a product have access to older versions of the product? It is not and  
this is the point I am trying to make.

Drupal developers can still choose to not support older versions of  
the product. What you can do is move them from an active area to an  
archival one. Let users have access to old files and pages dealing  
with the versions; regardless of whether you as a developer think it  
is a good idea or not for people to use those older versions.

It's like I tell artists --it is not up to you to tell people how to  
interpret your artwork. That's only up to the art seeker/lover/ 
explorer/user/critic. Once you do the work, let the work be.

I mean, Drupal is not MicroSoft. Why would Drupal care to force an  
upgrade if there is no economic incentive for you anyway? What  
exactly is Drupal.org getting out of it? And this is an honest  
question, not a rhetorical one.

Now, mind you, I am coming back to my original comment : I was to  
take this weekend to upgrade. For good or bad, I am spending  it  
replying to these emails. So, yeah, I am upgrading anyhow; but this  
is not about me.

My comments have more to do with the elan or spirit that moves  
members of the development team like Gerhard to make decisions like  
the one quoted above. It does not help in building community and it  
certainly is bad for Drupal.org's reputation.

/ liza






On  27.May.2006, at 02:12 PM, Greg Knaddison - GVS wrote:

> On 5/27/06, blogdiva at culturekitchen.com  
> <blogdiva at culturekitchen.com> wrote:
>> Which is why I insist : Give away those decisions to people who can
>> do that person-to-person heavy lifting. It will make Drupal.org an
>> infinitely better experience.
>
> Congratulations liza, you just nominated yourself to head the Drupal
> person-to-person evangelism team!  You are clearly an experienced
> person in this regard and not afraid to share your opinion - important
> qualities in that role.  FWIW, I will throw my weight behind your
> opinions to help them avoid being ignored, though I may not agree with
> your exact methods to achieve those opinions.  e.g. I agree that the
> history needs to be available and documented, but it is available in
> CVS and that is a reasonable method for anyone who wants to maintain a
> currently unsupported release.
>
> You can signup for the marketing group here:
> http://groups.drupal.org/drupal-marketing That is probably the best
> home for a person-to-person evangelism team.
>
> I created a base "History of 4.5" page in the handbook because I agree
> that idea is kind of fun.  You can view it and provide comments to
> help it grow http://drupal.org/node/65867
>
> Welcome aboard!
>
> Regards,
> Greg
>