Recently i updated my wordpress to its latest version 3.4.1 and noticed that few of my plugins are only compatible upto 3.3 although they are working correctly for my site even with the latest version.
So does that means that i need to disable those plugins and look for the alternatives and these plugins are no more SAFE to use or it is something else( i downloaded all plugins from wordpress.org ONLY) .
Need a better clarification over this and let me know if some concept i m missing with the up gradation :) . Detailed answer is really appreciated and i will do my part then :)
Plugin authors need to explicitly remember to login and approve their plugin for use with a new release; I'm afraid it's not automatic.
The good news is that unless there's a huge change to the way something works, well developed plugins tend to stay compatible.
Bear in mind that downloading from wordpress.org in itself doesn't tell you that a plugin is 100% - it's all up to the authors, and some authors maintain their plugins well and others no longer look at them.
To assess whether a plugin is more likely to last the long term, look at how often it has been changed, and whether problems in the support forums have been responded to. The number of stars tells you a little bit, and the number of downloads, if really high, tends to suggest that the plugin is well trusted.