At any given time, there are two major release versions of Drupal that are supported (currently Drupal 6 and Drupal 7) and the Drupal core development community has historically left backwards compatibility behind in favor of new features and technologies. This leaves a lot of Drupal users with one or more questions:

 • What version of Drupal do I choose for a new project? Should I wait for the next major version?
 • Our website was just built a couple years ago! Do we really need to upgrade?
 • Why doesn't the Drupal have backwards compatibility between major versions?
 • What are the long term support options for small businesses, non-profits and university departments who have little or no budget?

If you've asked yourself any of the these questions, this session is for you. Topics that will be discussed during this presentation include:

• The differences between Drupal updates, upgrades and migrations;
 • Reviewing the options for web hosting, development and ongoing support;
• Sustainable development practices that can keep total cost of ownership low and manageable;
 • Very recent changes to the Drupal core development cycle that you'll want to know!

This session is not about the future of Drupal nor is it specifically about Drupal 8. It's about your future with Drupal based on the past and current decisions made by you or your organization.

About the presenters

Christefano is one of the Larks at Exaltation of Larks, a Drupal design and engineering firm with teams in Los Angeles, Boston and Miami. He's also one of the founders at Droplabs, an award-winning coworking space and computer lab (and the world's Top Drupal Location) in Downtown Los Angeles.

In his free time, he co-maintains the Drupal LTS project on Drupal.org and is a co-organizer of the Drupal LTS group on Drupal Groups. Christefano also helps organize Greater Los Angeles Drupal, which is the one of the most active Drupal user groups around.