As I work as a freelance software development consultant, I occasionally get to influence the versions used of relevant software but not always. I like the strategy of do everything on the latest available version The definition of latest differs from company to company; for some it means the latest release from the vendor, for others the latest authorised version to use (which may be many versions old). That way you are likely to get the longest time possible for the given circumstances between commissioning systems and upgrading them.