VM 2 or VM 1?

[ayok]

Hi,
I don't know where to ask this, but I'm about to start a new shop and I need to be sure about this. Although I've done both, this question always bothers me.
So far, I'm quite satisfied with how VM 1 works. However, there are of course some things need to be developed, like better SEF, etc. So I was looking at VM 2.

VM2 design looks nice, the animations are great, the codes seems more efficient and easier to understand, good SEF, etc. There was a client which has started with VM 2, and I just needed to finish it. But it was a big mess. Things doesn't work, like... it was NOT sending order mail to the vendor! I don't know whether that was coused by my client's site which has been started by someone else with combination joomla 1.5 and VM2, or it's the original vm2, but I've seen a lot of questions in this forum similar to my problems, and I've asked some questions my self without any answers.

I like to use Joomla! and I like VM for my webhop project. So I need advice from the people who have more experience with VM2 before I start my new project. Should I use VM 2, or maybe just stay with VM 1 for a while?

[AH]

What you choose really depends on your needs (pretty obvious really). 

Make sure you have defined your business requirements. Rank them from Must have through to Nice to have.  then check how each platform ranks against these.

If you move up to VM2 be prepared for a lot of hard work, this is not a "mature" product and has its challenges as a result.  This is the VM version/platform for the future so investing effort in learning to implement and making it do what you want, should be useful for a greater period than working on the VM 1.1.x "sunset" version. 

If you use  Joomla 2.5 you have to use VM2. Vm2 does not function on joomla 1.5!

I have started to look into VM2 and Joomla 2.5 and it is certainly a challenge and not an easy leap from vm1.1 and joomla 1.5

I will, no doubt, be making the leap in the future.  Luckily, I can afford to wait until VM2 has reached a level of maturity that I am happy with and until that time I can learn a great deal more about its structure and technical functionality.

If SEF is your requirement, you can always buy a sef plugin for vm1.1.x.

One of my clients was very sure of his needs regarding SEF (he was using sh404SEF but duplicate urls were an issue and it had a negative inpact on his site speed, however many people also like this plugin) and talked to these guys http://www.artio.net.  They did a good job for him sorting out SEF wherever a VM URL was generated on page including the prev/next , related items / recently viewed / cart / snapshot etc. Creating a single URL for each item in his shop and site, in production for over 6 months now and working well.
 

[jenkinhill]

I know this is a difficult problem, as familiarity with a piece of software tends to make you continue to use it. However, the choice of being able to use either is being overtaken by events and developments elsewhere.

You will know that Joomla 1.5 is past end of life, with the possibility of any serious security issues being patched up until September this year. There is (was?) also a proposed fork of J1.5 to continue to support it, but this does not seem to have attracted much support. Component, module and plugin development for J1.5 has just about ceased.

VirtueMart 1.1.9 was the last official release of the VirtueMart 1.1 series. We are familar with it, but it does have bugs and is a real code soup.

The two work fine together, usually with a little fiddling and some code hacking, but they will not work on the latest PHP release, PHP 5.4, which has already been out for some time (now at 5.4.4). PHP 5.3.14 has just been released as an immediate critical security fix for the 5.3 versions so I would expect hosts who care about the quality of their service to be updating to this fairly quickly. Joomla1.5 does not run properly on this version - and some features do not work with PHP 5.3.13  - I don't have a VM1.1.9 installation to test with the latest releases (or the spare time).

How PCI compliance will be affected by unsupported/old software I do not know. Some have failed compliance checks because older versions of PHP were being used and thought to be insecure, but the release notes for PHP5.3.14 includes the statement "The release fixes multiple security issues". http://www.php.net/archive/2012.php#id2012-06-14-1

Joomla 2.5.6 works OK on PHP5.4.4 - I have not tried VM2 with it yet, but it will be compatible soon, if not already.

I am happy using Joomla 2.5 for all my new sites, as I find it a great improvement on J1.5, and so will currently only use VM2 when eCommerce is required. Many of the issues people are having with VM2 is because we all used VM1.1 and because we had to hack the code so often we thought we could get it to do almost anything! With VM2 code hacking is discouraged - although some are doing it. For anyone with a little css & code knowledge it is very easy to style the output to suit the Joomla template and to suit the client's requirements. But it did take a while to get used to.

But at the end of the day it's the individual's choice.  The way I see it is that none of my clients are going to thank me if I tomorrow build a site using older software versions which suddenly does not work due to a host upgrade a couple of months later. They won't pay again for me to rebuild the site with later versions.

[ayok]

Thanks guys.. I don't feel lonely anymore... I thought I'm the only one who has this problem.

I have started to look into VM2 and Joomla 2.5 and it is certainly a challenge and not an easy leap from vm1.1 and joomla 1.5

I will, no doubt, be making the leap in the future.  Luckily, I can afford to wait until VM2 has reached a level of maturity that I am happy with and until that time I can learn a great deal more about its structure and technical functionality.

If SEF is your requirement, you can always buy a sef plugin for vm1.1.x.

Hmm.. I think I'm gonna follow you. I can wait as well..
Thanks!

[ayok]

I am happy using Joomla 2.5 for all my new sites, as I find it a great improvement on J1.5, and so will currently only use VM2 when eCommerce is required. Many of the issues people are having with VM2 is because we all used VM1.1 and because we had to hack the code so often we thought we could get it to do almost anything! With VM2 code hacking is discouraged - although some are doing it. For anyone with a little css & code knowledge it is very easy to style the output to suit the Joomla template and to suit the client's requirements. But it did take a while to get used to.

I agree with you about Joomla 2.5, the codes are also much better.
However, I've had bad experience with my first VM2 (on Joomla 1.5). I did a lot of hacks on the site, and the upgrade button on VM2 suddenly looks so scary, because I think as soon as someone click that button and upgrade the VM2, the site would be messed up. Maybe I'll need to do experiment site with VM2 before use it in a real site.

Thanks!

ayok