Hi,
I have just booted up the Katalon IDE and seen a pop up saying: “Katalon Studio 6.x is being retired”.
I would like to continue using version 6.2.2 (editing tests in the IDE and running from the command line) but wanted to clarify with the Katalon team whether it would be possible to do this after April 30 2020.
Thanks.
I would also like to know this, I asked the question a while back and the response I got didn’t really give me a conclusive answer.
Yes it would be very helpful to know, as can start to plan licencing costs or whether a shift of direction is needed.
Apologies @devalex88 and @Zarashima as you’re part of the Katalon development team, could you possibly answer or help get the answer?
Thanks.
As it stands right now…
Old installs will continue to work after the sunset date (2020/04).
Installation of OLD downloads of 6.x WILL NOT work.
So, if it’s already installed, you’re okay. If you try to install again, it will fail.
Any regards as to why this is the way? Is there some sort of service they are supporting for the installs that they are kicking wayside? I’m not sure I see the reasoning behind killing off older versions, maybe I’m not looking at it in the right lens.
Yes, basically.
The older versions used a different activation system - call it “activate on install only”.
The newer versions effectively re-activate every time you start them up.
The old system is being turned off on the sunset date (due to ongoing maintenance costs perhaps). Hence, you can’t activate once the service is no longer available.
Makes sense, I appreciate the swift response. I’d like to explore the possibility of cutting that middleman out, but what sort of things would not work if the workaround was made. What I’m getting at is, is the service just for registration, or does it allow connectivity to other Katalon related services? If it’s just for registration/activation then it could be safely stepped over, thus allowing continuation the use of v6 Katalon Studio albeit unsupported. I’m sure there are/will be lots of people looking for this.
Honestly, I don’t know. Everything I know about this has come from reading the forum, a few PMs with @ThanhTo and @devalex88, and inferences made by yours truly.
My guess is, the TestOps services are handling all this going forward. Versions prior to 7 are validated on a different system (which is the system getting killed soon).
I agree with your premise. What Katalon could do is say “This version is not supported - please upgrade!” but not actually fail the execution.
@ThanhTo Comments?
Of course, there is one business reason to kill versions prior to 7. An astute and suitably qualified programmer could take 6.x and build from it, effectively creating a competitor product. In fact, that’s probably why it had to die - it doesn’t fit the marketing world-view, and actively undermines the plan going forward.
But really, a free version is still available for single-use desktop based testing. So I don’t really see the issue.
I do see your point in regards to the business model, I was giving Katalon the benefit of the doubt 
Of course the overarching reason is the bottom line, a lot of people saw that coming a mile away even with the promise of a free product always and forever.
Salt aside, there should/would be repercussions if said programmer would take source code and make it their own no? Piggy-backing off of what you said though, since there still is a free version of KS there shouldn’t be much of an issue making something like “Katalon Studio Classic”. Something like an as is version of Katalon Studio v6.x, an unsupported piece of software that can introduce newcomers, learners, even hobbyists that use it for pet projects to the world of automation/automated testing.
There are now so many ways to add functionality without even access to the source (is it possible to create plugins without KSE? Not sure).
That’s what I’ve touted behind the scenes. I guess it doesn’t “fit” the marketing vision going forward since there’s been no take-up for the idea.
Regardless of our opinions, we are where we are and I mostly understand the reasoning.
Understandable, something that’s just fan-service it doubtful to gain traction. I’d be interested in what the developers have to say about the topic, whether or not it’s a possibility. I’ll be the first to advocate for it for educational purposes. Industry espionage and competition aside 
Also, I agree to that. A business is a business and it’s what they gotta do to stay in business 
Hi Russ Thomas, I am doing a new Katalon installation (v6.3.3), after openning the APP it asks for mail and a password for activation but it is failing (it says usuer/pass are incorrect).
It would seems like the activation system/servers are down, YET forum says one can activate any katalon versions until 2020/04 (April of 2020).
*Offline activation is only avaiblable for version 7+ (so this one does not work).
I think the service for activating 6.x is still up, buut … The domain mai point to the new service, where credentials are not recognized.
Lazy to dig deeper but this may explain the behavior.
It is not the first reported case, looks like this issue appeared about a month ago
It means if I format my OS, download KS 6.3.3, when I insert my (2016) account credentials, Katalon won’t work?
or…
If I try to open KS 6.3.3 on a new machine, my credentials won’t work as well?
Free version only works on a non-isolated network. Free version is no longer free in these situations.
few months ago, I activated 6.3.3 when was still possible (using an old account), and made a backup of the application.properties file located in C:\Users\my_user_name\.katalon.
Today, i activated 7.2.1 with the new (non_bussines) account I am using, worked well.
After, I attempted to reactivate 6.3.3 with the new credentials, and it failed.
So yeah, it is confirmed that, for new users, activating 6.3.3 is no longer possible.
However, i deleted everything from C:\Users\my_user_name\.katalon folder and put back the 6.3.3 application.properties file, and worked well.
Not sure if this workaround will still work after the sunset, and for sure won’t work to migrate it to a new machine, but at least it may help somebody to keep working for a while on 6.3.3 in case of a machine failure > reinstall is needed.
