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DNN Blog
Dec
3
Posted by:
Shaun Walker
12/3/2006
A question we get asked very often lately relates to our ongoing support for DotNetNuke 3.x on ASP.NET 1.1. We recently passed the one year anniversary for DotNetNuke 4.x on ASP.NET 2.0 ( November 7, 2005 ) and in our download statistics we have observed a very obvious trend. Currently DotNetNuke 4.x accounts for 85% of all release downloads. So with the demand slipping significantly for DotNetNuke 3.x, combined with the fact that we have a simple upgrade mechanism for users to move from DotNetNuke 3.x to DotNetNuke 4.x, we believe it is now time to "sunset" the DotNetNuke 3.x code branch. What this means is that all development effort will now be focussed on DotNetNuke 4.x, and there will only be future DotNetNuke 3.x releases if there are showstopper defects or critical security issues discovered in the current 3.x code.
The next major release will be DotNetNuke 4.4.0. The code base for DotNetNuke 4.4.0 is significantly different than DotNetNuke 4.3.7 - mainly due to the many performance improvements we have been working on in development. We will not be backporting these performance enhancements back to DotNetNuke 3.x. Although it is possible that some of the enhancements may be applicable to the DotNetNuke 3.x code base on ASP.NET 1.1, the only platform tested in the Performance Lab was DotNetNuke 4.x on ASP.NET 2.0. ASP.NET 2.0 forms a critical part of our baseline configuration going forward and is the only platform we will be actively maintaining.
The fact that DotNetNuke 3.x on ASP.NET 1.1 was fully supported for more than 12 months demonstrates our level of commitment to the community. We believe it is now time to commit 100% of our focus on ASP.NET 2.0, as we also prepare for some of the exciting new features which are coming in ASP.NET 3.0.
10 comment(s) so far...
Re: DotNetNuke 3.x Sunset
thanks Shawn.
By afromobile on
1/11/2007
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Re: DotNetNuke 3.x Sunset
This is excellent news and I think will allow the core team to be a lot more productive on VS2005 without having to code, test, QA and maintain 2 lines of code...
By rodneyjoyce on
1/11/2007
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Re: DotNetNuke 3.x Sunset
I don't think I'm happy about this. I would have thought that you would take into account the volume of known, happy customers and sites out there, happy people like me who don't go looking for releases every day of the week because it mostly works, albeit slowly.
Sounds more like the decision came first and the reason second.
There are also all those people who make a living selling 3rd party modules for v3.
Besides, V3 could use some performance help. I get it in the ear from my most used ISP quite regularly....
Regards
Rob von Nesselrode
Brisbane, Oz
By robvon on
1/11/2007
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Re: DotNetNuke 3.x Sunset
Are the module projects going to be sunsetted at the same time too?
By hismightiness on
9/28/2007
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Re: DotNetNuke 3.x Sunset
Shawn,
Thanks for this valuable and direct information on the direction of the DNN platform.
You mention, "combined with the fact that we have a simple upgrade mechanism for users to move from DotNetNuke 3.x to DotNetNuke 4.x"
Would it be possible to place a link to an article describing the "Best Practices" for this technique for larger hosters from the download page?
Personally, I am willing to upgrade some of my larger solutions, however, I just would like at least of roadmap of common pitfalls when upgrading. Since, many larger instanciations have a mix of 3rd party modules, and many have started from various levels of DNN originally (some from the 2.0 days) This type of information in a consolidated page would be very valuable.
Keep up the great work on optimization. Looking forward to 4.4....
NOTE: You might consider a technique for a roadmap of DNN features based on the ecosystem itself. A great tool in another very vibrant ecosystem that has a great 'affinity' is this : http://ideas.salesforce.com/ you might be able to garnish some great knowledge from our own ecosystem based on the 'promoting' of different ideas.
Cheers...
By schafer_brad on
1/11/2007
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Re: DotNetNuke 3.x Sunset
robvon, like I said in my blog - we do not have the resources to do a complete performance optimization ( lab, testing, analysis, revisions ) for the ASP.NET 1.1 platform. Therefore, we have decided to focus on the current ASP.NET 2.0 platform for the benefit of the community. The decision to sunset DNN 3.0 was not purely based on performance - it was deliberated significantly over the last 6 months as we collected data on the adoption of ASP.NET 2.0. The good news is that the modules which are developed for the ASP.NET 1.1 platform are compatible with the ASP.NET 2.0 platform ( in fact most of the core modules are still being developed on ASP.NET 1.1 - although we will be porting them shortly ).
By sbwalker on
1/11/2007
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Re: DotNetNuke 3.x Sunset
Although I do still have a couple clients on 3.x, I feel this a good, and much needed, step in the right direction.
Good news.
By edegagne on
3/6/2007
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Re: DotNetNuke 3.x Sunset
I'm considering developing some free and/or commercial modules. Do you have any statistics on the number of existing 3.x deployments vs. the number of new (primarily 4.x, I gather) deployments? I'm interested in knowing whether it would be worth it to develop my modules for 3.x with 4.x compatibility, develop separate 3.x and 4.x versions, or skip 3.x altogether.
I suspect that there will be a healthy 3.x market out there for some time...
By EJSawyer on
9/28/2007
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Re: DotNetNuke 3.x Sunset
Hi,
would I be able to download the 3.4.x version. I have a 3.1 version, which I need to upgrade to 4.9.x.
I dont think there is a natural migration path from 3.1 to 4.9, am I right?
Any guidance would be helpful.
Thanks
By Nazer Aboobaker on
4/26/2009
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Re: DotNetNuke 3.x Sunset
@Nazer -- Actually, you CAN upgrade from the 3.x to 4.x versions... but when moving from asp.net 1.1 to 2.0, there are some things you need to do in the right order. Post about this is the forums and you will get lots of help there. Cheers.
By Scott Willhite on
4/26/2009
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