Infragistics V7.3 vs. V8.1

Question

We are using the Infragistics controls for .net (both ASP.Net and WinForms) for a few years. We want to upgrade our current version (v6.3) and are in a pickle. We can upgrade to v7.3 or v8.1 but not to a later one due to licensing limitations, and we don't want to spend more money on licenses unless it is really necessary. Rumor has it that the x.1 version is often less stable than the previous (x-1).3 version because there are more changes. This is only a rumor and I don't know if it is true or not, nor do I claim it to be true.

What I want to find out is which option is preferred and why:

1. Upgrade to v7.3
2. Upgrade to v8.1
3. Buy more licenses and upgrade to the latest and greatest (must be really good reason).

Any recommendations? Do you have experience with both versions and can compare their stability?

Thank you

Answer 1

I haven't, traditionally, had any "stability" issues with Infragistics NetAdvantage releases. However, I have found breaking changes (particularly with the ASP.NET CSOM side), and smaller, more insidious gotchas. As a result, our company's policy is to not upgrade an Infragistics-enabled project until it is absolutely, critically necessary. (Yes, that means my current dev machine actually has four versions of IG installed. My last one had 8, because it also supported VS2003/.NET 1.1!)

IG does tend to fix quite a few bugs when it drops a new release; often I'll find that a hack or workaround I needed on an old project is no longer necessary on a new one. (This is, obviously, control-specific.)

If you are going to upgrade the control set for a given project, my official advice would be to go as new as you can. You're going to (potentially) have breaking changes and such no matter what, but at least this way, you get the advantages of the most recent bug fixes as well. This may not be justification for new licensing, mind you -- if you're canceling your IG subscription, this isn't a reason to undo that. But go as new as you can -- which for you, sounds like 8.1.