Former vBulletin lead developer Kier Darby to develop new forum software?

[anthonyparsons]

I remember the argument about them not catering to rewrite the entire backend for a 4.x release, and well... we are still at that point except a lot of brand damage has occurred along the way. Yes, IB should have listened to them for in essence, really they are in the same position of having to concentrate on a full rewrite in order to get the product right again.

[ManagerJosh]

IB have no chance of copying some parts of the interface as they still cant get V4 right.

If they had stuck to Kier first VB4 look things might be diffrent i say might.

I think it's safe to say "we told ya so" to some people at Internet Brands who called the shots

[badblu01]

IB have no chance of copying some parts of the interface as they still cant get V4 right.

If they had stuck to Kier first VB4 look things might be diffrent i say might.

[vivamexico55]

Looks very pretty. Can't really say much more until there's more info about it, but I hope VB copies some parts of the design and interface.

[---MAD---]

I must say that I am very impressed with this first preview of xF. They have extreme potential and lots of excitement and faith around the product already as you can see from the posts and members joining. What happens from here onwards it totally in the hand of the xF developers.

More competition is only better for the consumer as it leads to a better product overall as each company strives to provide the best software to meet the consumers requirements.

People are always going to back those they are familiar with... human nature. Xenforo has a long way to go before it becomes a viable competitor to VB or IPB IMHO.

I think you are forgetting who is behind the xF project. These guys (obviously missing a few who moved on to other project or are still at vB) are the ones who made vB what it is today. They are all very well known by vB admins and many other forum owners/admins which is why they will have faith in them as they know they can deliver a product that is stable and at a very high quality and will raise the bar.

[MRGTB]

True, you can't please everyone. I also don't like the drop shadow effect added to links. That looks very bad

[anthonyparsons]

Yer, no one package will ever meet every single aspect for any users needs. There will always be something you don't like, or want, that isn't present.

[MRGTB]

I don't like how the forum description pops-up in box when you hover down the forum list. Nice touch I agree, but I also find it annoying as well.

[anthonyparsons]

You can already see a good sum of IPB in XF... copying goes on regardless, because there are simply ideas already present which people respond to, so there is no reason to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. I wouldn't.

The only thing I don't think should be encompassed with the old licensing structure is leased licenses, as they become to much work to monitor, thus add to the overall price everyone pays for such monitoring upon expiration. One cost to purchase, then a small fee to renew within the series. You make each new version release higher than normal to upgrade, or use an algorithm to determine those who upgrade lots during a series vs. those who buy the cheap, then expect to get the next series cheap, they pay a premium upgrade price with little to no savings.

The pricing structure was certainly a sore point for a good majority of users, and is easily repairable with change.

[ThorstenA]

Lots of the xf design can also be accomplished with vb4. I like xfs postbit, and most of that is now available for my users They now have a like it link along with a report and answer link.

Looking forward to see more of xfs design ideas


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Update: As I got asked how I have grouped these elements:
avatar - post Like it Report Edit Answer
I removed the answer link actually and renamed the quote link with "Answer"

[VonDoom]

It would be nice to see the old pricing scheme there. $160 US owned, 100 leased and $30-40 renewals

Salute.. Although this wouldn't really be an issue if the product worked.. The increase price and change in structure wouldn't be such a problem if 1, the product worked, and 2, if the licensing structure was implemented after the rewrite was complete..

I suppose i can see why the 4.0 series has it issues.. The incremental rewrite obviously has its own problems.. But it is killing me as a forum admin to have to fix what vB continues to break.. Mod authors are running away from this mess, at east until the rewrite is complete.. Doing this is increments was a bad decision. (IMO) and is causing me a tremendous amount of grief.. If i could go back in time i would have stuck with 3.8 but its to late for that and now i just feel ripped off. Nobody forced me to upgrade. but at the same time promises were not kept.. vB4.0 is a joke.. all i can say i like about it is the UI i think it looks great, But somebody was using a girl friend as an example.. She might look good but if she doesn't put out... well you get my point.

[MRGTB]

From my own perspective. I can easily afford vBulletin, but I will say this. Let's say I thought vBulletin 4 was great and the best product out there. If I felt it's becoming too expensive and being charged for again a little too often. I would still stop using it, especially if my forums (poor activity) doesn't warrant paying it. I say poor activity because that's a big problem now with many forums out there, lack of activity today. And that is making people think much more about if it's worth investing large sums of money to start a new one, or if they should look at cheaper or maybe free options.

That will also have an effect on vB4 sales, seeing as it's not cheap.

Would you pay £15,000 for a car your only going travel 2 miles in every day, or buy a cheap run-around instead for £3,000

There is a market out there right now for a good quality forum that's cheap to buy and keep updated. If Kier and Mike shock everybody and sell XenForo much cheaper than people are expecting, well undercutting IPB and vBulletin. They will shift sales very fast.

Also keep in mind that many people want to try and make money from their forums, they run them as an investment to make money. So they balance the cost against what they make from Ads per year. If that no longer becomes a feasible option because of software cost involved all the time. You know what they'll start to think? Again something else people think about which is not working in vBulletin 4's favour.

IPB and IB, are probably hoping to see XenForo come in at "sale price" that's very competitive with their own forum software sold. If it doesn't and instead comes in much cheaper. They can't fail really I'd say! That's what people want now, a great forum product that's also seen as being cheap to buy. And Kier and Mike don't have the same overheads as IPB and IB, so could do it quite easy. I know if I was them, that's exactly what I would do to take sales away from both sides of the fence, based on value for money. That's the type of economic climate we live in anyway right now.

I'm not planning on buying XenForo myself (so far) right now. But if it comes out at a "great price", and I see it as being a very good product with it. My view could change very fast.

[anthonyparsons]

Yer, I do agree I think I liked the old licensing structure better. Sure, its not as concrete for the company to plan upon, but hey, if you keep the customer base happy, then they keep upgrading.

[MRGTB]

I don't think it's just solely about the product anymore here. I think it's about the cost involved and when IB will be charging again as well. vBulletin has sky rocketed in price and IB have not even delivered a good product for that increased price. And many people I think are expecting that IB might hit us with another renewal fee on vBulletin 4/5 sooner than they expected.

People are sick of feeling that they spent money on a wasted product, and will be milked for more money soon in the future. I really don't think it's about comparing vB4 against XenForo only. There are other factors involved like money.

[anthonyparsons]

That is 40% of a 109 people... not exactly the 40,000 (approx) established license base VB have, let alone what license base IPB have as well.

Yes, I do agree though that xenforo will be an up and comer to the market competition with its state of alpha product release. VB still have time to nail their product with a rewrite, and if they get that done and get it right, I think you will find a lesser shift as a result and more begin implementing their unused 4.x license. xenforo have stated it will be months away from releasing the forum only product in Gold... which gives both competitors more time to improve and meet market demands. Even IPB aren't completely meeting licensee expectations... granted, they are doing it better than VB at the moment, but they both have plenty of time, experience, and existing market dominance in their corners.