Recently Microsoft announced that FrontPage 2003 will be the last version of FrontPage to be released. The product has reached its EOL, End Of Life, date with the company. This means that there will be no new versions released and no new updates or features will be added to this product by Microsoft. Many features in FrontPage sites are based on the FrontPage Server Extensions that are also released by Microsoft. Some of these features include form processing, themes, hit counters and the website publishing feature. These features are collectively known as the FrontPage web-bots.
Microsoft has also recently announced that the Unix FrontPage server extensions have also reached their EOL date. Official EOL for Unix extensions was on June 30th 2006. Mega Hosters has continued to run the unsupported Unix FrontPage extensions on our servers since then to continue to provide as much support for features to our customers as possible. However, we can not continue to do so forever.
Having the server extensions support dropped by Microsoft leaves Mega Hosters in a bad position. If by chance there is a security problem with these extensions then this could leave the Mega Hosters Unix based servers vulnerable. We must remove these extensions from the servers to avoid leaving the servers open to a possible attack. Mega Hosters plans on removing the FrontPage extensions from all of our Unix servers in the first quarter of 2007. After this date, any site using the FrontPage server extensions on Unix at the end of this year will no longer work properly.
Mega Hosters may decide to pull support earlier than expected for Unix if an incompatibility or security issue arises, as there will be no further patches or upgrades to fix such issues.
Microsoft has also announced that it will be replacing FrontPage with two new product lines. These lines are SharePoint Designer, aimed at businesses and teams of developers working on a single site. Expression Web Designer is the other line, targeted towards your average business web designer or home user. Both of these products are based on more standardized code and features then their previous counterpart.
This leaves the status of Windows FrontPage extensions to the unknown. It is however very likely that after these two new products hit the store shelves that the Windows FrontPage extensions will likely also be discontinued. This is because neither of these new products will require or use the features in the FrontPage server extension package. Mega Hosters is going to continue to supply the FrontPage extensions for our existing users however we must refrain from allowing new users to use these extensions.
All of these announcements are leaving Mega Hosters and our users in some very unsavory positions. Many of our users use FrontPage. It leaves all of us with many websites to fix and convert over to more standardized web practices. There is no current upgrade path or clear direction for all of our users. Each user will have to determine the best possible path for them to take.
Mega Hosters will be removing the FrontPage extension controls from the control panel to avoid any new instances of FrontPage being installed. We are strongly urging all users who use the FrontPage server extensions, to standardize their web practices and move away from using the extensions at the earliest possible date.
There are many different paths that can be taken for the users of the FrontPage server extensions. I will try to outline some of them below so you as a consumer can make an educated decision.
1)Wait For Expression Web Design
Users can wait for Expression Web Designer to be released by Microsoft and then convert their existing sites to the new formats and technologies. There will likely not be any built in functionality as there is in FrontPage with its web-bots. We are also not sure if there will be a built in FrontPage converting tool. Pricing for the software is likely to be around $400 and it is said to be ready for stores by the end of the year. This is just information gathered from various Internet postings so please don't hold Mega Hosters to the pricing or release dates.
2)Continue Using FrontPage without the server extensions:
This is always a valid option for any of our users. FrontPage is a decent web design program that will continue to work without the use of the FrontPage extensions. Users can build their websites in FrontPage locally on their computers and FTP them to the server using a FTP client or the built in FrontPage FTP client. Other features like form processing and hit counters will need to be replaced using scripts. There are many places on the Internet to find free scripts for form processing and hit counters that are built using PHP or ASP.
3)Use a web design program other then FrontPage:
This is pretty much the same option as #2. There are many other design programs on the market such as Adobe Dreamweaver, or Coffeecup Designer. Many of these programs use standardized web processing and all of them would still require replacements for the FrontPage web-bots.
4)Use a CMS system:
This option is more for users who really have no real experience with web design or web scripts. There are many web scripts on the Internet that are called Content Management Systems, or CMS. These CMS systems are basically pre-built websites that have a web based administration system where users can edit the content and feel of their website. Some examples of these are PHPnuke, PostNuke, Mambo and DotNetNuke. Many users like these because they can easily go to the administration site and by filling out a web form they can change virtually anything about their site. This isn't a bad idea for the inexperienced web master.
Each one of these options may or may not be good for you depending on your individual situation. Please evaluate each one and decide what is best for you and your website. If you have any questions about the best options for you and your site please feel free to call us at 1-866-634-2669, or send us a support ticket. We will be more then happy to discuss the best option for you and help you decide what your best course of action is.
Thanks,
Mega Hosters Inc.
