lurttinen wrote:What would you say to the hundreds of thousands phpBB administrators wich would update their forum just to see that PHP4 support is gone and their forum is destroyed?
First, their support isn't gone over night. They have 211 days before that occurs. Thats a long time.
Second, I would say to those administrators that they are gaining new features. Between full unicode support, built-in acceleration, and a much faster performance in general, there are substantial improvements.
The suggestion isn't to stop coding a version which works on PHP4, but to embrace features in PHP5
without concern to whether it exists in PHP4. Think of it this way, does PHPBB ensure support for php3? No. At some point the switch will occur, the question is when.
A good example is the input_filter. Implementing a solid input_filter is difficult, time consuming, and error prone. By using the function included in php5.2, you save that development time, and can focus on other areas. Its not reliably available in PHP<5.2, so many people don't use it. Thats just one example. Unicode support, xml parsing, and more all dangle the carrot to make it a worthwhile transition.
But most importantly, every project on the list at GoPHP5 is telling users to
request support for their applications, which in 200+ days will require php5. Many hosts offer it, some don't yet.
lurttinen wrote:"Get a better host" ??
I doubt that...
Webhotels resources and limited on what and when they upgrade.
What do you think thousands of webhosts are going to say to users of dozens of major applications (including phpmyadmin!) who need php5 support that they don't offer? Take your money somewhere else?
I doubt that.
Thats why community initiatives are effective. They change the chicken-and-egg situation to encourage upgrading. PHPBB could be a part of that, or not.
lurttinen wrote:Updating is allways recommended, but to drop something over night is exaggeration and trouble.
211 days is not over night.
Further, thats 211 days from now. Keep in mind that PHP5.2 was released in November, while PHP4 was released over seven YEARS ago. How long do you continue to support that?