Downgrade from Suite to Forum?

[ra87]

This is the answer I would like to ear! Is this official or just a supposition?
As we can see, JS/IB are forcing us to buy the suite.

It has been stated in a few threads by vB members of staff, an uprade from forums to suite will be around for $100, but a downgrade will not be possible from suite to forums only.

meaning, if you buy suite now, your have to upgrade to suite later, or buy a new license.

[DanielSefton]

Okay, sorry guys, but I've got the urge to fire a pistol at this:

you are not the one to call this question, and the answer was quite complete... thanks!

That's the most elitist comment I've ever heard on a forum.

You basically said that your response was perfect, and should be only ONLY response.

Just because you have 2,041 posts, that doesn't make you any more important than any one else who helps.

And as nfn just said, in fact what I said was exactly what he wanted to hear.

Again, sorry, but I had to get that off my chest.

[nfn]

Someone asked that exact question in a post, and that was the answer given by a vB. staff person.

Perhaps someone could find it by searching for "downgrade"?

Thank you! I'll try to find it.

[nfn]

It has been stated in a few threads by vB members of staff, an uprade from forums to suite will be around for $100, but a downgrade will not be possible from suite to forums only.

meaning, if you buy suite now, your have to upgrade to suite later, or buy a new license.

I can buy a v5 forum license only, but I wouldn't have script to roll back the database from suite to forum as we have now.

[Baba Wawa]

I can buy a v5 forum license only, but I wouldn't have script to roll back the database from suite to forum as we have now.

No, but you can disable all parts of the suite except the forum. So you can still have just the forum.

[Wayne Luke]

...except nfn would still have to pay the full suite price if he wanted to upgrade. So if he doesn't use it in the future, he'd be paying extra at upgrades for nothing. I think basically when VB 5 comes around, if you just want the forum, then you'd have to buy a new license.

No he wouldn't... If he decided to purchase vBulletin Forum 5.0 when it was released, than that is what he would upgrade to. If he had never used the Suite's other components he wouldn't have lost anything.

[Baba Wawa]

No he wouldn't... If he decided to purchase vBulletin Forum 5.0 when it was released, than that is what he would upgrade to. If he had never used the Suite's other components he wouldn't have lost anything.

To the extent that this thread was progressing toward clarity, that is no longer the case.

[Wayne Luke]

Don't know what isn't clear about it. The CMS and Blog content uses their tables. The forum uses its tables. You can purchase the Suite and disable and/or uninstall the CMS and blogs from within the Admin CP if you wanted to.

If you buy the Suite today and do not use the Blog or CMS components, you lose nothing buy purchasing Forums with the release of vBulletin 5.

[Sadie Frost]

Wayne, I think the confusion is as to whether it is possible to upgrade now to Suite 4.0, then when 5.0 is released, "upgrade" to Forum-only 5.0?

There have been some statements that led some people to believe that if one purchases Suite 4.0 now, they must purchase Suite 5.0 if they wish to use vb 5.0.

[Baba Wawa]

Wayne, I think the confusion is as to whether it is possible to upgrade now to Suite 4.0, then when 5.0 is released, "upgrade" to Forum-only 5.0?

There have been some statements that led some people to believe that if one purchases Suite 4.0 now, they must purchase Suite 5.0 if they wish to use vb 5.0.

Thank you, Sadie.

God forbid that anything about this should be clear.

[theda]

You can purchase the Suite and disable and/or uninstall the CMS and blogs from within the Admin CP if you wanted to.

If you buy the Suite today and do not use the Blog or CMS components, you lose nothing buy purchasing Forums with the release of vBulletin 5.

...I think the confusion is as to whether it is possible to upgrade now to Suite 4.0, then when 5.0 is released, "upgrade" to Forum-only 5.0?

He said it plain-as-day. Yes, it's possible.

[Sadie Frost]

I was just explaining the source of the confusion theda - no need to talk down to me.

[nfn]

Ok. So these are good news!

[Lucifer1337]

I think the concerns raised by Baba Wawa are important ones. Now I'm no marketing genius, nor am I a conspiracy theorist, but it only makes sense for IB to offer a cheaper Suite than Forum-only package if they have some contingency plan down the line to make that money back on the Suite.

It's entirely possible that the business model behind this offer is that they think the Suite is just so awesome and use will be so widespread that come 5.0 people won't want to downgrade, or will have a developed CMS/Blog community and realistically can't, even if they were ambivalent about its utility. That would be a smart assumption and not necessarily shady dealing. On the other hand, if as concerns have stated, the business model relies on preventing downgrade for money saved, then that would be shady dealing.

I'm aware that Wayne has answered this, and I really do appreciate his effort and support in being helpful and constructive. However if there's anything the vB 3.x to vB 4.x licensing switch has shown, it's that we really can't have customer assurance in what to expect, and no court anywhere would uphold a forum response as legally binding if IB were to alter its policy.

I believe Wayne is telling it like it is currently, and trust that he's genuine, but also think it isn't being factored in that company policy can change and we as customers have no contingency plan besides getting out or stuffing it. And again, from a business standpoint the amount of overall customers who buy the Suite and want to downgrade will be much smaller than those who are affected by the current debacle. So they have less to lose from changing that policy then they do in the current situation, and we have nothing in writing that says they can't do that to us.

As well, both responses have stated that you won't lose anything by purchasing the forums come 5.x. It does not state you will be able to downgrade with a similar customer discount as those that are upgrading to like packages. All it says is that you could purchase it without losing anything, which could mean you have to buy it new or with no equitable discount.

[nfn]

That's true and we have two questions here. One is about the license terms and the other is a technical questions.

The first one may change as we already saw, so no one can ensure what we have now.
From now on, we don't have upgrade license ... we buy a product we know will die when the new one came, so I can buy the suite today and 18/24 moths from now, I can buy the forum product only

The second is a more problematic, because today decision will have implications in the future and i need to ensure that I will have a option to go from suite to forum.

This doesn't mean I'll will do it. If my members prefer the suite I'll stay with it.