[development] Very concerned over Drupal's core development

[Earnie Boyd]

Quoting David Metzler <metzlerd at metzlerd.com>:

>
> I think think the right answer about drupal stagnating was really  
> about having Views, Panels, and WYSIWG api all going through major  
> refactoring on D6, all lagging significantly the D6 release. I know  
> it's why I'm not using my own D6 ported modules in any production  
> sites yet.
>

And to avoid this the module developer needs to agree to port the  
existing functionality of a module from one version to the next while  
the new features of the module are being developed.  The deadwood and  
coder modules can help with that and should be one of the first  
modules upgraded out of the door.  New functionality in a module is  
great but once a Drupal version is out and people are knocking on the  
modules door for "when is Dx going to be supported" carrying over the  
old functionality to the new Dx should have a priority over a more  
powerful, better looking model.  D6 still lags because modules are  
improving their API and developers aren't willing to put out a module  
that is carries the sins of the older D5 version.  A worthy goal but  
so is getting a module that is working just like the previous.  This  
is really a sore sticking point making using Drupal sour in some eyes.

I agree that Drupal has a nice feature rich framework for building  
many different applications (modules).  I agree that the CMS work is  
what has drawn many to Drupal.  However, a focus on CMS often drowns  
the other usefulness of the framework and you have a situation similar  
to HORDE/IMP. Does anyone think framework when they hear HORDE?  Maybe  
as a second thought but usually you think an email client.   
Unfortunately when people here Drupal they think CMS and not  
framework.  Most users of the CMS don't care that the framework of  
Drupal or the framework of their favorite module is now more feature  
rich at first.  They care that their sites will work exactly the same  
as it does before upgrading.  Then they might look at the newer  
features.

There are more users of Drupal than there are hackers providing code,  
peer reviews and module functionality.  Yes, these are important but  
not to the non-technical user of the product.  People are tired of  
waiting on module maintainers and probably will go elsewhere or worse  
create their own version of the module.  This is why it is important  
for contrib modules to be readily available within a month of a new Dx  
release.

--
Earnie
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