LTS - CI 3 -- how long will it be supported/maintained ?

That would be great. I just can’t ignore the fact that it will become another Laravel with a different branding. I mean just look at the make:migration. I’d rather do it manually using HeidiSQL or phpMyAdmin rather than using a CLI tool since I’m using windows, I prefer clicking stuff than typing commands on a terminal that needed to be stored in muscle memory...

I disagree.  I don't think CI4 will be like Laravel.  It will have similarities but it will still be light and fluffy...and remember some of the new features will be optional not mandatory.

It's more of a soft reminder so CI won't copy what Laravel is doing to make it (like you said) "similar". I've made my mind and I'll be using 3.1.9 for my next project. From what I see, I don't think CI4 will be fully covered 100% at least by the end of 2019 or early 2020. So, I rest my case... If CI3 becomes an old redundant technology in 2-3 years to come, that's mean PHP 7 will also be obsolete (I don't think so) since PHP 7.2 end of life is expected on 30 November 2020 anyway.

Thank you.

It's more of a soft reminder so CI won't copy what Laravel is doing to make it (like you said) "similar". I've made my mind and I'll be using 3.1.9 for my next project. From what I see, I don't think CI4 will be fully covered 100% at least by the end of 2019 or early 2020. So, I rest my case... If CI3 becomes an old redundant technology in 2-3 years to come, that's mean PHP 7 will also be obsolete (I don't think so) since PHP 7.2 end of life is expected on 30 November 2020 anyway.

Thank you.

Good luck with your project, I think you're right to go with CI3 since you don't know how long you'll have to wait for CI4 to emerge.  You may well have finished your project by that time.

Also, as someone pointed out to me, even when support for CI3 does eventually come to an end (which looks to be a minimum of two years from now if I read correctly) the framework is well known and pretty light, so you would have the potential to fix any issues yourself if you really needed to.

That would be great. I just can’t ignore the fact that it will become another Laravel with a different branding. I mean just look at the make:migration. I’d rather do it manually using HeidiSQL or phpMyAdmin rather than using a CLI tool since I’m using windows, I prefer clicking stuff than typing commands on a terminal that needed to be stored in muscle memory...

I disagree.  I don't think CI4 will be like Laravel.  It will have similarities but it will still be light and fluffy...and remember some of the new features will be optional not mandatory.

It's more of a soft reminder so CI won't copy what Laravel is doing to make it (like you said) "similar". I've made my mind and I'll be using 3.1.9 for my next project. From what I see, I don't think CI4 will be fully covered 100% at least by the end of 2019 or early 2020. So, I rest my case... If CI3 becomes an old redundant technology in 2-3 years to come, that's mean PHP 7 will also be obsolete (I don't think so) since PHP 7.2 end of life is expected on 30 November 2020 anyway.

Thank you.

@rangka.kacang
I agree with you that using CI 3.1.9 is the right choice for your next project.  I just think that assuming CI4 will be like Laravel is just not true, period.  If anything CI 4.x is taking PHP best/popular practices and implementing some of them.  Remember there are other frameworks that have these same features too.

I feel CI may suffer image problem a little bit, usually described as very simple not so modern (no namespacing) PHP framework that doesn't have many built in features, so it's ok for some amateur to easily pick up, but "real" developers should be using Laravel.

@Pertti,

I completely disagree with the portion of this statement where you say ..."real" developers should be using Laravel.  A real developer can use whatever tool is put in front of them and make it do whatever is necessary to get the job done.  A framework is only as good as the developer that is using it.  CI developers are "real" developers too!

@Pertti,

CI requires you to know PHP, Depends on mainstream commercial industry which in most cases open source is not considered by many companies.