I’m going to rant a little bit on software upgrades, more specifically, web application upgrades. I have had a blog using WordPress for the past 5 years. This upgrade process with WordPress has always been fairly simple. Not only has the process been simple, but I have always gotten the expected outcome. New features, bug fixes, etc always worked without a hitch. I never once experienced an issue because of an upgrade. This blog is now using Habari. Habari is a lot like WordPress with regards to upgrading. It’s simple and functionality never breaks with each release (unless perhaps you are using bleeding-edge non-stable versions).
The software I use at work for creating websites is an ASP.Net CMS called DotNetNuke. There are a lot of good things about the software, but I fear that the negative outweigh the bad in many aspects. One of those aspects is upgrading. Over the past year I have run into several roadblocks while upgrading. Some of these include disabling functionality (on purpose and on accident), creating more bugs than they fix with each new release, and putting off show-stopping bugs to future releases. I have to wonder when dealing with the software if they ever actually test it before they release.
I never understood how careless they could be with the software that “powers hundreds of thousands of websites.” Maybe ASP.Net developers are part of a completely different paradigm than PHP developers. In the past I have noticed a huge difference in the PHP and ASP communities, maybe that way of thinking stems from the developers. In my office, we have come across several things that don’t make sense with regards to DNN decisions or errors. So often in fact that we don’t even say “that doesn’t make sense” anymore. Instead, we shrug and say, “That’s DNN” then continue to look for a solution to yet another issue created by improper testing.
