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The Downside to purchasing Joomla! Extensions & Templates

Most of the extensions and templates that we use on our Joomla! websites requires a subscription in one form or another. We just want something that works, works well and is not prone to hackers and is compatible with the rest of our site. So we fork out the extra money for a quality application to use. This is all great for the duration of the subscription but can break you down over the life of the website.

Many times even the best applications have not been properly beta tested. So they release their work as a finished product when it it isn't and we buy it. Only to find update after update to fix bugs, add features and in reality pay to test the application. Sometimes this phase can extend past your subscription and in order to get the newest updates we have to renew our subscription if that feature is offered or pay another subscription fee to get the new files.

So what stared out looking like a value is now turning into a money pit that has no bottom. So what happens is many of us say to heck with it and look at our site and say "Its working now and as long as I don't do anything to it I don't have to update it". The term "If it isn't broken don't fix it" is where people get into big trouble with their websites being hacked or eventually not working as expected.

Although there is no fix for this I am writing this to put things into perspective. We have been raised to think that if we spend the extra money on a something we will get a product that will last a life time. This works with somethings but it does not work with digital goods. So the next time you need something to use on your website be aware that the money you are going to spend on it now does not mean that you can move on and forget about it.

I will write more on this as it comes to me.