Which version of Sitecore?
26.05.2011
It’s a common question that we get – which version of Sitecore should we go for? It’s tempting to say “the latest” of course, but life is never that simple.
Sitecore have just issued the “Technical Preview” of version Sitecore 6.5, which would indicate that the final release should be in late June sometime. This release has some interesting updates, especially on the Page Editor (In line editing) area, but probably most exciting is the introduction of the next generation of the previously called Online Marketing suite (OMS) not to be released as the Digital Marketing Suite or DMS, which has a greatly improved (Silverlight-based) reporting feature.
However, 6.5 is not the recommended release, nor indeed is version 6.4 which I have to say is a special favourite of mine as we finally see Sitecore in a truly cross-browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari), cross-platform (PC and Mac) release. Finally, our editors on Apple Macs in the Japanese version of Firefox can access the desktop interface. It looks great too – a much more slick set-up.
Currently (and that is today the 26th May 2011) the actual recommended release is Sitecore CMS 6.3.1 rev.110112. If you read Sitecore’s developer website it states:
“Sitecore regularly releases new versions of our CMS product. Each release undergoes careful quality assurance procedures to minimize the number of issues. Nonetheless, Sitecore only assigns the “Recommended Version” stamp to specific, carefully selected releases.”
So, if you’re not there already Sitecore 6.3 is the one to go for. However, our view is that 6.4 addresses so many of the cross browser issues, and has so many editor improvements, that it is definitely worth considering especially if you see more than a few Macs in the marketing department.
If you’re on an older version of Sitecore you may have been told that there is a smooth upgrade path between versions. This is only partly true. If you’re running Sitecore 4.3 or before then avoid ‘automatic’ upgrade – you’re better off starting from scratch. If you’re on 5.0, 5.1 or 5.2 then at very minimum you must get to 5.3, but better to upgrade to 6.4 (less painful than from 4.3). If you’re on 5.3, and your site has been built reasonably well, then you have got a good chance of getting to 6.4 without completely rebuilding everything.
If you want to know more about your possibilities, then give us a call or drop us a mail. We’ve been doing upgrades since the first commercial release in 2000 (Sitecore 3.0) so we can help.