Originally posted by rudedog1968
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Honestly, I am still on the fence here. I have a still somewhat underutilized 4.2 forum, which I could possibly switch to vB5 just to give it a chance. What stops me from doing this isn't the technical issues that must clearly be ironed out, but the pricing.
May I make a suggestion here: I've got fairly good ideas on what must change technically and design-wise in vB5 for it to adopt the "Whow!" status I expected. Much of the info that drive my ideas are already mentioned in this thread ad nauseum, so there's little to no point regurgitating them.
What I miss though is tough opinions on pricing. Clearly, those who've taken the vB5 plunge weren't bothered about the price ticket, but there's clearly loads of 'unrest' and discontent about that among the what seems hardcore vB users. My approach to that will simply be based on comparatative analysis between vB and alternatives which, in turn, will drive my decision on whether to stay or go with vB.
Irrespective whether the price is 'right' or wrong, which is of course worth a discussion by itself, the real 'baffle' for me is the discount offered to long-running customers - those who stood by vBulletin for, say, five years or more. The $40 offered amounts to roughly 20% of the new price, which, on paper, seems a reasonable amount - but only for a product that can be trusted as properly functional and as a ready-to-go, out-of-box solution.
Here, I sense, sits the snag that IB's price-setting economists, marketers and accountants may fail to see. Pricing for this version is no longer about adding margins to the product's known and expected landing costs to maintain bottom lines but about retaining and holding onto a what seems dwindling advocacy. It's arguably no longer about replenishing old and disgruntled clients with new customers, but about preserving and maintaining long-term credibility of brand. Of course, I can only fall back on statistics on this that aren't much detailed than what's already known publicly - which, admittedly, is precious little in any case - so I confess to be shooting mostly off-hip here.
Assuming that 'Nill' won't cut much mustard with IB as an appropriate charge for vB5, and $200 is considered too much by the afore mentioned long-running customer group - what, then, should be a more 'satisfying' price and payment arrangement?
The way I interpret vB5 is that it isn't a product yet that warrants a price point that's on-par with what's offered by vB's competitors, chiefly because the latter are complete, fully functional and well-supported turn-key products, which simply isn't what's offered by vB - yet. Investing $200 in vB5 now while hoping that it will eventually give access to a product that does warrant this price point puts all risks on investors - customers - and practically none on IB. That simply is a bizarre way to market a brand, and one that - with all respect to those who purchased vB5 - will only be accepted by those who are perhaps very new to vB, but likely not by those who've lived through vB4.x's chronicles.
While I am not sold on the product yet, I certainly am not sold on the price either. To throw one more perspective in the mix before closing this post, consider $40 discount a value that's earned in less that 30 minutes by even the most average of full-time employed coders. Then consider how much time we, customers, are already spending on feeding what often seem bleedingly-obvious information back to vB to help its development teams produce acceptable software - betting that's more than 30 minutes per 'loyal' client. Combine this with the amount of time we may have to spend on making the product work once purchased, that $40 seems a rather negligible and most unconvincing, uncompelling and nonsense deduction.
Thanks for reading this, if you did. I am attempting to keep things positive and constructive, but for that to last vB may have to throw a bit more of its own skin in the game, at least to keep me as a customer.
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