Support Schedule for 11.0/6.0 and 11.1/6.1

When we release a new version of our software, we also announce which browsers and browser versions are officially supported for that release. As new browser versions are released, we evaluate the stability of the new browser, and we may announce official support for those versions – sometimes with special patches or settings to work around anything those browser versions break.

With that in mind, when I started to write a blog post announcing the support (and de-support) schedule for our older versions of our software, I was curious to see how many browser versions were released since the SmartClient 11.0/Smart GWT 6.0 release. I checked the version number for my browser of preference – Chrome. When Isomorphic released version 11.0 back in March 2016, it was officially supported for up to version 49.x of Chrome. As of today, I’m running Chrome version 91.x. Firefox has had a similar number of major version upgrades though some browsers like Safari have much fewer. That’s many changes to the browsers that could (and often do) break functionality in older code. All of the browser updates also make it more challenging to backport fixes which means as time goes on, we have to limit which fixes make it back to older versions.

All of this is to say, at some point, it makes sense for us to stop or limit the support on older versions. A couple of our older versions are coming up to the time to start being de-supported. To allow organizations on those earlier versions to plan to upgrade, here is the list of upcoming de-support dates for our oldest supported versions.

10.1 / 5.1 De-supported (Reminder)

11.0/6.0 Support Schedule

11.1/6.1 Support Schedule

Now is the time to upgrade!

If you’re still using version 11.0/6.0 or even 10.1/5.0, now is the time to upgrade. You have the option of upgrading to either the current 12.1 version or to the soon-to-be-released version 13.0. You can read about the new features in version 12.1 (here: https://blog.smartclient.com/its-here-download-12-1-now/) and version 13 (here: https://blog.smartclient.com/coming-soon-in-release-13-0/ and here: https://blog.smartclient.com/amazing-new-features-for-v13-0-part-2/).

IMPORTANT: It never makes sense to add new features to an application on anything other than the latest release. Browser vendors are constantly breaking things, and we don’t port the more complicated stuff back if it’s principally cosmetic or can be worked around because it’s not worth the risk. Hence problems start to accrue in aging releases well before they are officially end-of-lifed.

Upgrading is easy – but we’re happy to help!

Our forums are a good source of information/support when upgrading. If you need more assistance, Isomorphic Consulting is here for you. We can provide help and direction, upgrade your applications for you, or even perform Application Modernization to help you take advantage of the latest platform capabilities. Just contact us for more information and to discuss your needs.

If you absolutely, positively can’t upgrade to a later version, but you still need to have support, you can contact us regarding an extended support plan. However, we will always recommend upgrading as your best path forward.

Thanks!