The latest WordPress 3.9 update is out and many have been disappointed to say the least with its lack of flair and functionality. Since its release, there have been numerous reports on broken sites, themes, and/or plugins as soon as the update is installed and complete.
According to several WP open source developers and forum reports, these issues are present in over 90% of the cases and are due to themes and/or plugins not being fully up to date. While the update is free of charge it still presents annoying disturbances that websites could very much do without. Many companies have suggested resisting downloading the update until the bugs get sorted out so as not to disrupt the business cycle or risk falling into serious website downtime of their online company.
However, premium theme and plugin developers intend on keeping their products updated and in accordance with each update released by WordPress. Yet there already exist free themes and plugins that are lacking within this process and must be given time to catch up with the program or run the risk of being left out of the market as more and more WP users become familiarized and accustomed with the development and update process involved with the world’s most popular CMS in recent weeks and months. Users are unlikely to keep on downloading themes, plugins, and updates without considering the risks today. The web WP community is being given a first rate chew-out of difficult the open source project is and the tireless efforts developers are taking to make sure ensure all users have a dependable experience when they install any current or future updates.
Since a large number of sites require extensive updates, patches, and fixes being applied and finding a replacement which run the risk of potentially being incompatible plugins that are not complacent with the new update, could lead to serve damages and overhauls to the CMS core. This is why a majority of companies are holding off from installing any plugins in order to give the technology time to catch up and avoid the risk of ruining a perfectly fine website with the hit of the update button.
Perhaps you may want to exercise the same caution when it comes to the latest releases, in order to avoid major overhauls of your site especially considering the fact that you might have a large site or blog that has a heavy dependency on plugins (which makes it incredibly difficult to avoid since everything in WP is handled by plugins) and sites or blogs with 20+ pages of heavily modified content. There have been unfortunate cases being reported, not to mention a direct a request from WP on their forums to dissuade users from posting hostile and personal forums.