A discussion on updates, upgrades and transitions/migrate.
In general, in recent years no one likes to migrate to completely new systems. Usually, older systems have been developed to the point they are computer program 'bug free' and users of those systems know how to use them to get work done or the information needed. Support is usually also easier since the problems are know and what to do to fix them are known.
There was a time in the past, like 1980s and 1990s, that people usually looked forward to an upgrade or transition/migration because the newer system would give them some ability or feature within a program that the user really needed or wanted.
Updates I would classify as being bug fixes to a program.
Upgrades I would classify as being a major change in a program, such as a new data format, or major additional functions and modules.
In my own experience:
Going from DOS to Windows 3.1 was initially 'a pain' because all of the additional hard disk space and memory needed; however once there was a large installed base people seemed better off since a lot of keys or functions were standard between programs. As an example: Almost everyone knows that in any program CTRL + P will print, CTRL + C will copy, CTRL + V will paste; etc. People don't have to leave a set of new commands to do the basics.
Going from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 or Windows 98. The install took a while but the big benefit was more memory became available for the programs, which DOS had memory limitations on. Also easier to keep the systems running. Another good thing that started was PCI bus where cards would be autoamtically assigned and interrupt (IRQ) and base memory address without having to change jumper settings or switches on a computer card or run a software program to configure the computer card. With the earlier machines and DOS there were all kinds of problems as people filled up all of the card slots on a machine and ran out of base memory and IRQ locations to run put things on. The other hardware item that showed up was USB (Universal Serial Bus) bus. That also made things a lot easier to install, things just plugged into a hub or a port on the machine, and would usually be recognized by the system for installation of any needed drivers. USB also eliminated the problems of having to set serial line speed, specifying data and error bits, what serial (COM) port or parallel (LPT) port to use. You would just select the device and be able to use it.
Windows XP - Made a lot of improvements with the interface, plus last well over a decade. When Windows 7 came out, many people did not want to change but had no choice since after a while programs like TurboTax would not run on it. At first Windows 7 seemed to have all kinds of strange problems, especially with network connections where it did not seem to recognize the connection, but after service pack 1 these problems seemed to stop and was seemed to be even more stable than Windows XP.
Windows 10 - Seems to be a windows 7 improvement but works just as well and, in my experience, seems 'ok' but does the same stuff as Windows 7. I would have been perfectly fine staying with Windows XP or Windows 7.
Over time there have been some 'dead end' Microsoft operating systems, that people who upgraded to probably wished they have not:
Windows ME: Had problems connecting to networks and never seemed to properly run software, especially in compatibility mode for older software.
Windows Vista - seemed to have various problems that people usually solved by staying on Windows 7
I remember in the 1990s that it seemed like most software was upgraded almost every year, to the point where software versions were called or referred to by the year. While this was good for the companies making the software, since it generated all kinds of sales and support, it was usually a nightmare for the support staff and users since a lot of times the software was rushed out the door with all kinds of problems. Towards the end of the decade there were a number of software lines that were having all kinds of problems from support staff and users constantly running around trying to keep things running.
In recent years some of that has moderated since most companies do not want to be spending all kinds of time and money on constantly upgrading software and hardware; people want to put something into place that will just run and is stable.
In my own experience while I make money on major upgrades I usually tend towards trying to NOT upgrade or migrate since I do not want to take something that is working and ok, and end up stuck in something new that may not work.
Unfortunately, there are times when things change, or will no longer be supported, and one has no choice but to make the journey to something new. I try to avoid making large changes even though I can make a lot of money because I don't like the risk of ruining something that was working.
With this forum, I had hope, initially, that maybe the problem could be solved with more and faster hardware, which I inquired about in other postings. Some people have recognize these solutions as a 'brute force' with hardware; but as it turns out the problem seems to be more with the software itself and not something that more or faster hardware can overcome. (For a number of years it was thought that Intel hardware was overcoming shortcomings in Microsoft's programming in its Windows line since without the 'latest and greatest' CPU for speed, Windows seemed kind of sluggish and slow to run.)
The other part of the problem is that MyBBS seems to be not really being properly supported or updated anymore, so as time goes on, and PHP versions are not available on hosts to run MYBBS, there will probably develop more and worse problems with the MYBBS software.
Now is a good time to migrate. MYBBS has been used for a number of years here so if there was a reasonable solution to fix the problems it would be know by now. There is also a solution today to migrate most of what is here to the new platform, so this would be a good time to make that change while this MYBBS to the new platform is somewhat supported and possible.
While everything can't be migrated over, there is the possibility that maybe once the new platform is up and running that some kind of replacement or substitute for any functionality can be found, or maybe developed over time.
The important thing is to get over from the current platform to the new platform, as much as possible, and then see what can be done 'in the new house'.
It sounds like Roosh has already run a successful test migration to ensure that everything that can be migrated is migrated, so I expect sometime on Monday evening we will all be able to take a look and see where things are. (As a side note, I am somewhat surprised that Roosh was able to get to this point so fast, I had expected it would be several weeks before a live migration would be possible.)
