Farewell to PHP4

As reported on the site Go PHP 5, many PHP developers across the Web have decided not to support PHP4 as of February, 2008, so that they can move on ahead and make better products using PHP5.2. In addition, PHP6 is coming down the line and there is only so much support developers can handle. Some of these include major popular services , like Drupal and Gallery.

Programs written on PHP4 may have difficulty or errors running on PHP5.  Thus it is crucial to be updated to the latest versions of those programs.   What does this mean for your customers? It means you need to take a look at which of the programs on the list at Go PHP 5 your clients are running.  In fact, you may want to check softwares that are not on the list if your clients are running them and find out if they are PHP5-ready.  You will also need to take a look at their hosting services to see when and if they are upgrading to PHP5, if they have done so already.

This is a very good opportunity to improve your customers’ Web services. Perhaps they are long past due for an upgrade, or are not up to date on backups. In addition, if a host is not upgrading, perhaps it is time they moved off of that host.

Part of my job is bridging the gap so that my clients’ sites can run more effectively and efficiently with minimal interruption, so that they barely notice. Take the time to review your clients one by one and contact them. They don’t need to know all the technical details, but they should be aware that you are working to improve how they get their message out to customers.