Why Pay Now..???

[ShogunLord]

My fellow Admins from a forum I run , would like to know why we have to pay the discounted fee now for the Suite version of vB4 when there is NO CLEAR release date..??

Apart from building up vBulletins cash kitty, when the cash is better suited in our Bank Account...

Soon could mean any time as I found out when purchasing another forum script a few years ago, it was a full 17 Months before they released a stable ( Gold ) version....

Regards...

[Mark.B]

You have to look at this the right way round.

The reason for no release date has nothing to do with being cagey or shifty or trying to extract cash. There is no doubt the product will be delivered.

They can't give a release date because, really, they don't know when it'll be ready.

That is an unfortunate fact of software development.

If they DID commit to a release date, I'd be worried, because this would potentially lead to a rushed product to meet an arbitary deadline.

Ray's said they aim to release by the end of the year. Personally I reckon early next year is more realistic. But it's definitely coming. And it won't be 17 months....vBulletin's new business model would be a bit screwed if that happened.

[tormodg]

...why we have to pay the discounted fee now

You don't have to pay anything. You can however choose to take Internet Brands up on their pre-sale deal and get a 50% discount, and then get vB4 when it launches. Or, you can wait until it is launched and then pay the full price.

[Reeve of Shinra]

Ray said that the vb4 gold would be released in Q4. So assume January 15th and you should be okay.

[Jim Oaks]

I would imagine there are many like myself that are apprehensive about paying $200+ for a product that's not yet available just to 'save money'. As a consumer, it really makes me wonder why their trying to drum up the cash for something that has no release date and is clearly not available.

As a business owner, I've see businesses take orders before a product was ready, but it has always been to generate the funds necessary to produce the product to begin with. That makes me feel that those of us who purchase the software now are really simply paying the company to actually create it. How much time does that take to write it, test, it and debug it. Taking in to consideration what ShogunLord posted, I don't want to suffer like others did and wait over a year for the actual product. That $200+ could be better invested elsewhere.

For me personally, I got an email that said I could preorder for $130. Then when I logged in it said $210. The email sent out didn't state that your had to have a license that has paid up to date. Just that 'I' had a license and could pre-order. Well, considering my last vBulletin forum was using software owned by the hosting company, I consider myself as actually having a license now because I purchased one to own my current vBulletin.

I tried to call and ask about it. After a long wait on hold I was greeted and told they're wasn't anyone available to answer my questions. Maybe many other site owners have the same questions and issues.

[Zachery]

The email sent out didn't state that your had to have a license that has paid up to date.

The license said the 120 USD discount was for active license holders. There was an anouncement about a presales offer being extended to expired license holders as well.

[tormodg]

As a business owner, I've see businesses take orders before a product was ready, but it has always been to generate the funds necessary to produce the product to begin with. That makes me feel that those of us who purchase the software now are really simply paying the company to actually create it.

Pre-ordering is a standard procedure for a lot of software developers and is quite often done just before launch to cater to existing customers. I use a lot of music production software and this is a well-known, and much appreciated, tactic.

That we're paying for the development of software is, well, what do you expect?

That we're paying for the development of vB4, however, is likely not the case, since it's already running here at vbulletin.com in a beta version and is being finalized for launch either in Q4 2009 or Q1 2010. But we have no guarantees for that, thus you can choose to *not* buy into the pre-sale deal.

[GeorgeB]

Ray said that the vb4 gold would be released in Q4. So assume January 15th and you should be okay.

Jan 15th would be the 1st quarter of 2010!

[slinky]

Pre-ordering is a standard procedure for a lot of software developers and is quite often done just before launch to cater to existing customers. I use a lot of music production software and this is a well-known, and much appreciated, tactic.

So do I but usually:

- I'm given prior notice about the sale and time to take time to first understand all the options

- I am given a certain date when buying the current version entitles me to a free upgrade without paying another upgrade fee

- My upgrade cost is usually never more than 50% of the purchase price for a new license (not almost 90% as it is here)

- The software has already been in beta testing and there is a reasonably good estimate as to when it is expected to come out, not user speculation

[FreshFroot_]

The license said the 120 USD discount was for active license holders. There was an anouncement about a presales offer being extended to expired license holders as well.

Shouldn't the difference from an active and inactive license be within $40? why is there a difference of $70 for inactive users? Do you know how many users with owned inactive licenses will just be turned away from this price? That's basically saying your support means crap to us.

[slinky]

Shouldn't the difference from an active and inactive license be within $40? why is there a difference of $70 for inactive users? Do you know how many users with owned inactive licenses will just be turned away from this price? That's basically saying your support means crap to us.

This is exactly why we and none of our clients are upgrading any of the expired licenses and considering not even upgrading many of the current ones. It's just $5 less than buying a whole new vBulletin 4 license. We've been waiting until the end of this quick upgrade period to see if there is any discussion about what would be logical and reasonable. It's unfortunate since all of us wanted to embrace a new version but this is making it very difficult. And time is quickly running out.

[Abomination]

This is exactly why we and none of our clients are upgrading any of the expired licenses and considering not even upgrading many of the current ones. It's just $5 less than buying a whole new vBulletin 4 license. We've been waiting until the end of this quick upgrade period to see if there is any discussion about what would be logical and reasonable. It's unfortunate since all of us wanted to embrace a new version but this is making it very difficult. And time is quickly running out.

You may want to take advantage of 1 copy of the suite this week. I've been thinking and reading the forums and used properly the suites features could be powerful. And of course you could turn them off and get the v4 license for less $ than either the suite or forums. I'm just suggesting you consider it.

In case you do upgrade 1 license you could point it to any of your forums, at least that is what I was told i.e. you could upgrade one of your active licenses for $130 and use that where you are now using one of your expired licenses. And of course you will have all updates for vb 3.x forever for that v4 suite license.

[jw00dy]

This is exactly why we and none of our clients are upgrading any of the expired licenses and considering not even upgrading many of the current ones. It's just $5 less than buying a whole new vBulletin 4 license. We've been waiting until the end of this quick upgrade period to see if there is any discussion about what would be logical and reasonable. It's unfortunate since all of us wanted to embrace a new version but this is making it very difficult. And time is quickly running out.

Ditto. I'm exactly where both of you are. 2 expired owned licenses, and I'm having a tough time coughing up the $70 difference. My one leased license has been renew for $130, so I'm not seeing the justice here.

[Arkham]

Jan 15th would be the 1st quarter of 2010!

Maybe for "Millennium Captial Group, LLC.", but not necessarily for other companies. For example, Jan. 15 '10 would be Q2 according your country's federal government.

It could depend on the corporation, too.

[Arkham]

Shouldn't the difference from an active and inactive license be within $40?

Why? Just because you happen to have an inactive license? You were warned, you didn't heed the warning (or common sense), so you are paying (or not paying) a completely legitimate price.

I haven't had an active forum but I've kept an active license for years in order to stay current. Why didn't you renew?