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1. DRUPAL 6 END OF LIFE ANNOUNCEMENT,
SHOULD I UPGRADE MY DRUPAL WEBSITE?
With the official release of Drupal 8 on Nov 19th 2015 coinciding with the birthday of Drupal
founder Dries Buytaert, sparkling celebrations across the globe amongst the Drupal
community, comes an alarming Drupal 6 End of Life announcement. Now let’s explore the
options with Drupal 6 & Drupal 7 website owners who are in a need to embrace the
imminent change.
February 24th 2016 – Time left to act (Official Drupal 6 End of Life)
The end of life announcement means that Drupal community will no longer release any
official updates for Drupal 6
 No security updates ( Websites can be compromised and becomes vulnerable to hackers)
 It will no longer be supported by the community at large (With New version in town the
fervour towards contribution will be shifted to Drupal 8)
 Might have to rely on paid vendors for keeping the website safe & secure
What does Drupal 8 offer?
Drupal 8 with its powerful new suite of tools is focussed on overcoming the inherent
complexity of the previous versions, to enable website administrators to work through
hassle-free without complex configurations.
 Improved content editing/authoring experience (Now your site’s content could be managed
from your phone)
 Mobile-first, responsive, HTML5 output (Enhanced User Experience on both desktop &
mobile devices, Drupal 8 has mobile responsiveness in its DNA)

2.  Ease of multilingual configuration (Easily translate to your website’s content to 110
supported languages)
 Improved performance (Less modules for faster page loads and reduced server load )
Although, it promises a lot of cool features, apart from major modules, there are a whole lot
of contributed modules that still needs to be developed for Drupal 8.
Should Drupal 7 owners worry?
Drupal 7 could be around for another 4 years as per the Official Drupal release cycle,
Source: https://www.drupal.org/core/release-cycle-overview
I have a Drupal 6 website what should I do?
Well! How long you can stay with Drupal 6 beyond its EOL is a question of what your
website is? If it’s a simple brochure website with few pages of content manifesting your
businesses’ online presence, you do not have to worry about upgrading to Drupal 8. It could
be a smoother ride or a little bumpy one without pinching your budget.
If your website is made up of heavily customized modules, say an e-commerce website with
lot of functionality achieved with contributed modules and customizations, you will need a
careful assessment by a developer to check if you have relevant modules available
on Drupal 8. The next planned minor upgrade is planned to happen by April or May, 2016

3. It is also a trade-off between how interested you are in being an early-adopter vs. the
budget availability for the upcoming financial year.
Recommendation
Well! Knowingly or unknowingly new Drupal release has happened in a vacation season, so
businesses’ has ample time to sit back relax on your vacation and ruminate over your
options to decide upon giving a fresh look to your business with Drupal 7 or Drupal 8.
While deciding to go with Drupal 8, do not hesitate to reach the Drupal geeks who have
already started delivering on Drupal 8 and has a readily available professional team.
For a thorough assessment and professional guidance on upgrading your Drupal website,
Drupal Geeks can be reached out @ 312-340-7112 or send an email
to consult.drupalgeeks@ameexusa.com