Jelsoft Acquired

[Paul M]

As posted on vbulletin.com (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=235378) today ;


Dear vBulletin customers,

We are pleased to announce that Jelsoft Enterprises Limited has been acquired by Internet Brands, Inc., a leading provider of automotive, travel and home-related sites and communities.

As part of a larger organisation, with more than 500 employees, Jelsoft has access to additional resources, support and business expertise which will ensure that we can continue to grow and flourish. Products will continue to be actively developed and fully supported, and as time goes on you will begin to see noticeable changes and improvements that are made possible by being part of a larger organisation.

Internet Brands' intention is to focus on improving what we are doing at the moment, and that means significant investment in our software development, customer service and sales and marketing processes. Internet Brands is willing, able and ready to invest heavily in Jelsoft, not only to continue to offer the same great products to our existing market, but also to empower us to enter new markets and find new audiences for our products and services.

The day-to-day management of Jelsoft will continue largely unchanged. I will continue as Managing Director and CEO of Jelsoft, working alongside the executive team at Internet Brands. John Percival, co-founder of vBulletin, will be taking this opportunity to pursue other interests, and I?m sure you will join me in wishing him well and every success in the future.

I'm really excited about this news, and feel strongly that it was a great decision for the company and our customers. Jelsoft has achieved significant success over the last few years, and before we officially move into this new era, I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to all customers who have supported Jelsoft and vBulletin - It is your continuous support and loyalty that has enabled vBulletin to become a market leader in community solutions. Rest assured that, with the help and resources of Internet Brands, we will continue to work hard to produce products that are innovative, feature-rich and forward-looking.

Again, thank you.

All the best,

James Limm, and the Jelsoft team

[cyberphr]

Boo!

[EnIgMa1234]

This could be a good thing
As part of a larger organisation, with more than 500 employees, Jelsoft has access to additional resources, support and business expertise

[blazingpc]

I'm seeing price hikes in the near future.

Larger companies\corporations like to see LARGER profit margins and at the same time cut corners.

[Princeton]

Exciting news .. this is a great day for the vBulletin community.

A large influx of money is always a good thing .. watch for some great things to happen.

[beduino]

really, i don't understand, the profile of the company is travel and cars :) ... but maybe a good thing.


Internet Brands, Inc. Company Profile Internet Brands (formerly CarsDirect.com) takes shopping from research to retail with a few clicks of a mouse. The company helps customers research and purchase, online or at an actual location, big ticket items, such as cars, real estate, mortgages, and travel. Its sites include those for automobiles (CarsDirect.com, Autos.com), homes and mortgages (LoanApp.com), and vacation rental properties (Vamoose.com, VacationHomes.com). The company offers financing and mortgages through various banks. More than 3,000 local car dealers have joined its nationwide network and it has alliances with United Auto Group and Penske Automotive Group. Internet Brands, a part of e-commerce incubator idealab, was founded in 1998.

Contact Information
Address: 909 N. Sepulveda Blvd., 11th Fl.
El Segundo, CA 90245 Phone:310-280-4000Fax:310-280-4868
Financial Highlights
Fiscal Year End:December
Key People •Chairman: Howard L. Morgan •President, CEO, and Director: Robert N. (Bob) Brisco •COO: Christine Bucklin

all the best
beduino

[Quozty]

thats as crazy as ebay buying stumbleupo.....wait...forget that :P

[ERuiz]

Hmmmm Let's see how things turn out. I really don't know what has been going on and don't certainly want to speculate, but I find it kind of odd that one of the co-founders of VBulletin decided to seek other "interests" right at the time when this acquisition takes place.

Oh well, I could just be trying to see beyond what is being portrayed to the public. Let's just hope things work out and we don't see a price hike in the near future.

[Eric]

wtf!!

That's all I have to say. :p

[ShawnV]

Death of another great product by the corporate engine of greed.

_V

[goblues]

Too early to tell, but will keep one eye open at all times. :)

[LEAD_WEIGHT]

Meh! I would of done the same thing. That is the point, is to make something so appealing that someone will buy it. It is not like it was a family business, that would be harder to let go.

[Brandon Sheley]

I don't see why a price hike would come of this ?

[Shazz]

Expanding!
/me watches jelsoft buildings go up

[LEAD_WEIGHT]

If they increase software price, then more people tend to be stand offish or seek other bulletin board scripts. I hope they do not dump simple addons on us, but it should make it easier for member(s) here to actually be part of Staff and on the other hand of that, you might not see any lite(free) addons if full is available for purchase.

This will be a good thing for talented coder(s) of other countries to get reconized, hopefully.

[sola]

Good luck to you guys. Just don't destroy VB. Above all, don't tamper with the immense trust placed in it by a vast customer base. VB has goodwill, so much that it is unquantifiable in monetary terms. It took years of dedicated attention to the customer's point of view to build this up. Don't destroy it pls.

[COBRAws]

lets see... I have my doubts about this. But as someone said, its too early to say!

Now lets wait we get new scripts, additions, etc.

make an official SEO plugin for vBulletin, also keep on the development of vb blogs, etc.

Add the most popular MODS to the next vBulletin release.

[jam583]

We are going to see an increase in price, not right away, but it will come. If anything, on paper, they need to show a positive increase in revenue over the next 12 months to make it appear as though it was a good purchase. They will increase the value of VB on paper, make the portfolio they have even better, and it will make IB a more valuable company. What better way to quickly do this than a price hike.

They bought VB out for a lot of reasons. Clearly, it's to make the footprint IB has even larger. Not only do they run some large sites (many of which use VB) they also now "Power" thousands of other sites. They will easily be able to purchase some of these large VB sites that are privately ran and this will come in the future.

Part of me is excited that we have the backing of IB. They have done some amazing things but the other half of me says "OH NO!". Clearly, they have some amazing talent on the development team for IB now. I would assume some of this talent would go to work on projects they currently have or websites they currently run. In doing so I can only hope focus isn't lost on VB.

Time will only tell!

[LEAD_WEIGHT]

I see no real reason to increase the price for main script, it will not make any bussiness since. Addons are what make money and it is seen in every product.

i.e.: xBox with main core and addons
i.e. PS3 main {over priced release} = low sales

i.e. Microsoft Vista: several versions and bloated with useless spftware - They should of had Core and add what you want. That is what makes money everytime.

[69lakalle]

OMG :confused::eek:

[Roms]

(I posted this on vB.com)
Onto the subject of product pricing. Since the first release of vBulletin 1.0 in 2000, we have never raised the price of vBulletin licenses. The key strategy moving forward is not to shift prices markedly upwards and make buying vBulletin an unattractive proposition, but rather to offer a broader range of products and services to better cater for all audiences. We are in business to serve our customers, and we will continue to do just that in order to remain competitive.

Thank you, that was one of my main concerns....

Here is a bit more info for those who don't know:


Los Angeles-based CarsDirect yesterday said that it has changed its name to Internet Brands, as the company has started expanding its services into other, non-automotive related areas. The company said that the name change reflects the company’s aggressive expansion into other big ticket areas sucha s home mortgage lending. The new name will serve as a banner over the company's CarsDirect.com, Autos.com, Autodata Solutions, LoanStore.com, BestRate.com, and LoanApp.com web sites. CarsDirect started its foray into other consumer areas in early 2004.
posted on Friday, June 17, 2005

[iogames]

They could have waited for me to get rich and buy it, and keep a free community for all of us...
those are my legitimate worries: Free & Quality :D

Seriously, I own a Corporation called FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, Inc, a little bit of time and that would have been perfect... but I can't think of another thing, that as in business they have to raise the prices in order to recover their investment...

[karlm]

I've worked with large companies before... they tend to not be so concerned with customers... but they sure know how to make customers believe otherwise :(

[Luky]

Death of another great product by the corporate engine of greed.

_V
Agree.

Can we atleast see a dollar sign?

This is when buisnesses screw up. They start to put money before ideas, and most importantly, their customers.

[elmati]

Agree.

Can we atleast see a dollar sign?

This is when buisnesses screw up. They start to put money before ideas, and most importantly, their customers.
i agree...

[SEOvB]

All good things must come to a end.

Show me one or two examples of something good being bought out by a larger coperation, and then remaining good.

The thing that is odd here, is not that Jelsoft has been bought out, but the fact that a company which has ZERO experience, or what it seems business on the internet software(ie forums) side of things bought them. This is going to lead confusion, hysteria, and global warming for sure.

And if vBulletin no longer exists in its current form in 2 years, i wouldn't be surprised.

[Dismounted]

Only time will tell what happens to this great piece of software....

[GrendelKhan{TSU]

Congrats!!

I hope very PERSONAL support continues and that resources and time aren't just sucked into the blackhole of "corporate restructing" etc.

hopefully and ideally... it will lead to faster and more robust updates and product and evn more timely customer support. hopefully. :)

time will tell...but for now..
CONGRATULATION and best to all of vbTeam!! (how many of you are vested? lol ;):p)

[Sean James]

Time will tell, hope all goes well

[Wayne Luke]

Show me one or two examples of something good being bought out by a larger coperation, and then remaining good.

Microsoft investing hundreds of millions into Apple Computer Inc. in the mid-90s to prevent the company from going into bankruptcy and closing.

Apple buying out the creative inventor of the iPod and selling it to the masses. Without the Apple buyout, you probably wouldn't even have an iPod today.

Google purchasing Blogger and Youtube. Both services have expanded and provide more options to users now.

Hewlett Packard's purchase of Compaq computers which increased the features available on their computers and the quality while lowering prices for consumers across the board.

Disney Studios purchase of ABC to provide a wider range of offerings to customers around the world.

Adelphia's buyout by Time Warner which brought lower prices and more selection to millions of customers.

[SEOvB]

Microsoft investing hundreds of millions into Apple Computer Inc. in the mid-90s to prevent the company from going into bankruptcy and closing.

Apple buying out the creative inventor of the iPod and selling it to the masses. Without the Apple buyout, you probably wouldn't even have an iPod today.

Google purchasing Blogger and Youtube. Both services have expanded and provide more options to users now.

Hewlett Packard's purchase of Compaq computers which increased the features available on their computers and the quality while lowering prices for consumers across the board.

Disney Studios purchase of ABC to provide a wider range of offerings to customers around the world.

Adelphia's buyout by Time Warner which brought lower prices and more selection to millions of customers.


You win.

[PixelFx]

*cringes* I hope tis works out, although wondering how this will effect those of us with commercial hacks for vbulletin.

[LEAD_WEIGHT]

I did not know that Microsoft did that? I thought it was cause Steve Jobs leaving and creating his own computer company and 'NeXT' the computer that was suppose to bring down Apple. I still have a dozen Black 21in monitors and they still work till this day.

I just had to change the power cord and place an vga adapter to work on P.C. computers.

[Capt. GannA]

Not cool :/

[Luky]

Microsoft investing hundreds of millions into Apple Computer Inc. in the mid-90s to prevent the company from going into bankruptcy and closing.

Apple buying out the creative inventor of the iPod and selling it to the masses. Without the Apple buyout, you probably wouldn't even have an iPod today.

Google purchasing Blogger and Youtube. Both services have expanded and provide more options to users now.

Hewlett Packard's purchase of Compaq computers which increased the features available on their computers and the quality while lowering prices for consumers across the board.

Disney Studios purchase of ABC to provide a wider range of offerings to customers around the world.

Adelphia's buyout by Time Warner which brought lower prices and more selection to millions of customers.
1. Microsoft gave apple money, they didnt buy apple. Thus making that statement an incorrect answer to his question.

2. iPods are crap, they are made to cheaply, screen scratches, batteries die after 2-3 years and its impossible to get some good support.

3. Blogger is for noobs, as is a free forum host. Most people these days that want quality, no adds forced apon them and the customisation they want themself will purchase and host professionally. Also with their YouTube, i pefered the old layout much better then the new beta layout for the viewing of videos and the search results. Also Youtube are deleting alot of videos that should be deleted, for example videos against religion. How is that fair for people to say how good religion is but we are not allowed to say the bad things about it.

4. HP are very cheap, only a few hundred dollars for an extremly low spec machine. You can even buy them at Target. You are mad to purchase one.

5. ABC is nothing but documentary's, cooking and kid shows, i goto school for that crap.

6. I dont even know what Adelphia is.

The morral is, we use a product and a company because we like the product and the company, the way it is. We donot throw our money at you to make large changes as this. And dont say its not large, because it is. vBulletin is worth over hundreds of thousands, if not more, with the money you guys pull in.

[SuperTaz]

I'm seeing price hikes in the near future.

Larger companies\corporations like to see LARGER profit margins and at the same time cut corners.


I agree. When one company takes another company over, they tend to be greedy and have prices skyrocket through the roof. If that is the case, then I might not renew my license. We'll see what happens.

[bikers]

I bought 3 IPB licenses for my forums because of this. Just incase.

[Luky]

I bought 3 IPB licenses for my forums because of this. Just incase.
Wtf? Are you a mad man? Thats friggen crazy! You just spent almost 300$ on something your not even certain on!?!?!

[LEAD_WEIGHT]

Wtf? Are you a mad man? Thats friggen crazy! You just spent almost 300$ on something your not even certain on!?!?!

He post this same over at vBulletin.com :)

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1384440&postcount=134


I am glad the owner got his baby bought, as this is what most creators of anything on the net would love to have. He probable wish Microsoft & Google would of been in a bidding war over his script.

[Snake]

Gee, I wish if I live in the UK where I could work for Jelsoft and make it to the top. =[

[LEAD_WEIGHT]

Gee, I wish if I live in the UK where I could work for Jelsoft and make it to the top. =[

Why live in the U.K. when they are hiring in the USA
http://tbe.taleo.net/NA5/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=CARSDIRECT&cws=2&rid=65

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Why live in the U.K. when they are hiring in the USA
http://tbe.taleo.net/NA5/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=CARSDIRECT&cws=2&rid=65
That is not Jelsoft hiring, and that job offer has already been posted before Jelsoft was acquired as far as i know.

[tschai]

I hope the (technical) staff will benefit from this financially, I think they do deserve this...

For all the doom-thinkers: there are a lot of (good) alternatives, so if the new 'managment' will screw up, they'll be 'corrected' by the customers soon and hard enough :) so, no worries with me...

[nexialys]

That is not Jelsoft hiring, and that job offer has already been posted before Jelsoft was acquired as far as i know.
actually, negociations for aquiring Jelsoft did not start 2 days before the announcement... and i'm sure it is not from last week either... so i suppose the IB guys had something in mind when they posted this job call...

actually, this is a good job call... why someone would have a problem with it ?!.. .that just mean that IB have a lot of vBulletin boards - all their sites are managed with vB for the curious...

people are freaking about the transaction but damn, the deal is good, why focus on that... it is not Jelsoft the problem actually...

[Dr.NoTime]

As with any business the owners are seeking a profit, so if they have an opportunity to better themselves, good deal. Only time will tell if the new owners keep the product first rate and affordable.

[nexialys]

As with any business the owners are seeking a profit, so if they have an opportunity to better themselves, good deal. Only time will tell if the new owners keep the product first rate and affordable.

actually, they will keep it good priced or they will loose all the actual market. ... the new products released or to be released by Jelsoft are to be bought firstly by actual clients... if the prices higher even just a penny from the plans, they would loose everybody's perspective.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

They have bought a brand that is not only depending on the product (vBulletin) but is also greatly depending on the name we have in the market regarding to the quality of the product and the support given.

I doubt I.B. will make any changes that would degrade the "value" of the brand. If they want to make a profit of the transaction then it does not seem wise to change the value the brand has in the market.

PS 'Profit' is not always measured in hard cash only.

[SkyCatcher]

Nah, I.B. uses VB for all their stuff and they just got tired of hiring coders to make stuff for them so they just bought the Jelsoft Company to make more stuff for them.

Hey, could be true lol.

[sola]

As with any business the owners are seeking a profit, so if they have an opportunity to better themselves, good deal. Most whiners here would sell there big forums in a blink if a good enough offer comes in. So why tie Jelsoft's hands? Some of these responses are so retarded, its even worse than childish. We can only hope the big gun running the show keep the focus on the customer, that's all. If they don't, another product will benefit from the repercussion.

Now let's quit whining already. It isn't like its going to reverse the sale anyhow...

[sabret00the]

I think ultimately every software developer wants one of two things, to either control the market being the biggest, the best and having subsidiaries like Microsoft OR to have their product brought out by one of the aforementioned companies. I would've hoped that Jelsoft would've held out for a Silicon Valley style company that specialises in software development as opposed to opportunist investors looking to make some money but alas. All bets are off as to the future of Jelsoft, but i suspect, or should i say hope that 4.0 won't be affected by this acquisition.

[projectego]

Good to see vBulletin moving up in the world. :)

[amnesia623]

hmmm.......

good luck to vB and hopefully the new company will stay silent in day to day activities.

[EnIgMa1234]

This is kind of like when the American took over Manchester Utd :p

[Wayne Luke]

actually, negociations for aquiring Jelsoft did not start 2 days before the announcement... and i'm sure it is not from last week either... so i suppose the IB guys had something in mind when they posted this job call...

It has been there for months and its probably to manage their hundreds of vBulletin licenses.

[Princeton]

the more you look into this deal the more you realize that this could be a great thing for any new social-networking features .. vast amounts of money, servers, and resources

for example, why ping/direct to technorati when you can create your own network? (just throwing ideas) :D

[JeffJo]

Microsoft investing hundreds of millions into Apple Computer Inc. in the mid-90s to prevent the company from going into bankruptcy and closing.


Nah, what actually happened was that Microsoft paid Apple money for Apple to put Office and Internet Explorer on the Mac. It was a software monopoly move by Microsoft.

The money involved was US $150 million, which was certainly not to "save Apple." Apple's loss - on paper - in 1997 was about $800 million, but Apple still had a cash reserve. You have to be careful when you read financial statements.

Gates was trying to take advantage of Apple's temporary financial weakness to get Office and IE as default software products on the Mac, and further monopolize computer software in general. Part of the deal was to have Macs ship with Office installed, and with IE as the default browser.

So, Gates made a software monopoly move, Jobs said "okay, Bill," and took the money with a smile. And now, sure Office is still common on the Mac, but IE, which was supposed to be the default Mac browser, doesn't even exist on the Mac anymore (except in discontinued legacy software.) Microsoft did get access to Apple patents, but MS hasn't done piddle with that, that anybody can see, and it's been 10 years. Vista, anybody? Jobs basically took Gates to the cleaners. :D

But back to the vB saga. Has Internet Brands issued any official statement? The most recent thing I saw on their website was from May.

[Wayne Luke]

That's not the way Steve Jobs explained it in an Interview with the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks ago but okay.

[nexialys]

it is not the way Jobs and Gates described it in the D5:
http://d5.allthingsd.com/20070531/d5-gates-jobs-transcript/

;)

[Yours Truly]

There is all this mention of them having most of their websites run with vBulletin
, if this is the case i really can't see this being a bad problem.

Looking through some of their sites they are pretty big forums that have been going on for a long time, so more than likely they have a vast amount of experience with vBulletin from its early stages so they know the system as well as most of you claim to do.

So it's not really some stranger company coming in hearing that vBulletin is the leader with Bulletin Boards. And trying to force their ideas upon vBulletin not really knowing what vBulletin is about.

It is a company with a vast amount of experience in this field. So at the end of the day when vBulletin was going to be bought out (was pretty inevitable really) then this must have been one of the best companies you could have asked for to buy out vBulletin. Like i say they must have a vast amount of experience with vBulletin since most of their sites use it instead of IPB.

What i'm trying to say really is this is better than some money grabbing company coming in with no idea of what vBulletin is, how it works and what it is used for. This is a company who must have masses of experience with the product looking at the age of some of their sites with vBulletin on.

[Guest0321]

Does everybody remember what happened to Madrona Park / Infopop when it tried to expand?

[Reeve of shinra]

IB purchased all of the forums in their portfolio... I think, but am not 100% sure, that they kept the original owners on as staff to help run it.

[Nutz]

As long as IB let the vBulletin development team keep enough independence to carry on doing what they’re good at, and not try and absorb the vB brand/product into their own too much this can only be a good thing. Don’t get me wrong a bit of fresh blood is a good thing now and then, just don’t mess with chemistry that seems to be working so well.

Thanks,
Mat.

[|Jordan|]

Hopefully the price won't rise so high, the whole greatness of vb is its high quality and semi-low price.

I wonder how much money they sold it for, they're probably millionaire's.

[LEAD_WEIGHT]

If your site has very good content, then you may get a check from them as well. I think this company want to control internet media and is doing a very good job of hiding it from others. It is a good way to control what is said on these types of forums and can influence any group(s) if you can censor what is said and not.

[Reeve of shinra]

Thats giving them too much credit.

[|Jordan|]

Is vb.org sold too? Is it owned by jelsoft too?

[brnoe]

Does everybody remember what happened to Madrona Park / Infopop when it tried to expand?

Unfortunately I do as I was a moderator there for a few years, don't see many hobby Groupee boards around now. Just hope a certain webhost we both share doesn't follow this path.

[nexialys]

i worked for InfoPop 'til they branched, and i can tell that their project of making the groupee was the worst possible... hosting what they were not able to manage at first is a bad deal...

they have 3 months to fix this, if i remember right... their project is at stakes

[Luky]

the more you look into this deal the more you realize that this could be a great thing for any new social-networking features .. vast amounts of money, servers, and resources

for example, why ping/direct to technorati when you can create your own network? (just throwing ideas) :D
What does servers have to do with us? Is Jelsoft going to host all of our forums? No.

May i ask this, have any of the coders for vBulletin be changed or modified?

[koxito]

WTF...

If u want me to be sinceir ( or whatever )... this is going to affect in the prices, and if this happens ... they'll lose custumers ... =o...

but whatever... =o just hope they dnt take adventage of us ..

[Marco van Herwaarden]

I will try to answer some of the question raised in this thread.

If there are any more questions, feel free to post them in this thread and i will try to answer if possible.

What will change for vBulletin.org?
As all the members here have an interest in the future of vBulletin.org, this is a question that is on the mind of many members.

vBulletin.org has always been a website that, although supported by Jelsoft, have been run by volunteer members out of the community. There are no plans at the moment to make any change in how vBulletin.org is operated.

Will we see a raise in the license pricing?
Since the first release of vBulletin 1.0 in 2000, we have never raised the price of vBulletin licenses. The key strategy moving forward is not to shift prices markedly upwards and make buying vBulletin an unattractive proposition, but rather to offer a broader range of products and services to better cater for all audiences.

[Adrian.]

I wonder if this means they will be developing more products. (Other than vB)

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Jelsoft is already developing more products. Project Tools was recently released, and the BLog is running beta at vbulletin.com at this time.

[GrendelKhan{TSU]

hey you guys made front page news at WebMasterWorld!! Congrats!! :D :D

[Calash]

Hewlett Packard's purchase of Compaq computers which increased the features available on their computers and the quality while lowering prices for consumers across the board.


I would disagree with you there...the features and quality of all HP/Compaq product lines has maintained with the industry. This is not a result of the merger.

From my point of view that merger was not good, it made working with the company WAY more difficult...there support end is still in transition.

Other than that I agree with you. We will have to wait and see how this merger works out.

[Antivirus]

I will flip if they start encrypting the source with ioncube and zend... that's my only real concern because it's so vital to the development community for add ons, etc... if the price rises a bit that's ok by me, i think vbulletin is worth it, but i'll be very disappointed when / if they start encrpypting the source code.

[Rich]

I can't say I am thrilled that a corporate business bought them out, but I certainly understand why vBulletin went with it.

Past corporate buyouts of other companies has shown how easily things can go terribly wrong. I hope that nothing changes in regards to how vBulletin is currently sold and managed.

Time will tell if this is good for the vBulletin Community.

[nexialys]

i think vbulletin is worth it, but i'll be very disappointed when / if they start encrpypting the source code.

encryption is one thing... if they provide the encryption key to developpers and product creators, the encryption is good... something like we pay 500$ to be able to access the core code and provide real efficient products built upon it... this will discourage the hackers and the coders-to-be... (because admit it, you prefer a hack that works, not a hack that need to be recoded each time a version is released)

[Luky]

What will change for vBulletin.org?
There are no plans at the moment to make any change in how vBulletin.org is operated.

Really? I can think of alot of tips for vbulletin.org, i dislike the way it is operated and you are using the same colours that default vbulletin uses, totally gross. Bring back that old skin, the blue one that some external site designed for you.

Will we see a raise in the license pricing?
The key strategy moving forward is not to shift prices markedly upwards and make buying vBulletin an unattractive proposition, but rather to offer a broader range of products and services to better cater for all audiences.
Invision Power Board is $5.00 cheaper than vbulletin. Why don't the prices get lowered to beat them? You display not much competition at all to the person with alot of money in their pocket and no brain, the type of person who buys a forum and sets it up with no idea. But what does Jelsoft care, they still get the money, right?

Jelsoft is already developing more products. Project Tools was recently released, and the BLog is running beta at vbulletin.com at this time.
There is already a free project tools, the MGC one, i am using it and in my opinion i would rather pay for that one instead of the jelsoft one, i really dislike the jelsoft one. MGC's is very simple and straight forward.


May i ask this, have any of the coders for vBulletin be changed or modified?
Answer?


Edit: @ nexialys, i would be extreamly p!553d if they even charged a dollar for the code. It would mean hundreds of people moving into IPB from vB. And personally, i dislike IPB's template system. Normal forum owners should be able to customise the core the way they like. The only thing that should be encrypted is the copyright. But it wouldnt matter if they encrypted it all, it would only take one person to purchase the key or to decrypt it and then release it to everyone on underground forums.

[Wayne Luke]

There are no plans for vBulletin to move to a closed source model. Also, there are no plans to implement any additional call-home elements.

[Luky]

What about the rest of my questions?

[---MAD---]

Hmmmm Let's see how things turn out. I really don't know what has been going on and don't certainly want to speculate, but I find it kind of odd that one of the co-founders of VBulletin decided to seek other "interests" right at the time when this acquisition takes place.

Oh well, I could just be trying to see beyond what is being portrayed to the public. Let's just hope things work out and we don't see a price hike in the near future.
That is exactly what I was thinking actually and could be more to it than just what the announcement said.

[GrendelKhan{TSU]

What about the rest of my questions?

omg. please just move on. -_-


Congrats again Jelsoft.

I have confidence you will be able to convert this opportunity into a better product for your customers (us!)...... OR ELSE!!! lol :p ;) I'm not worried about a price hike or would necessarily mind if it meant an even better product. don't think everyone is nickel-and-diming it around here and worried about a few bucks.

(aside: Good move on Internet Brands, Inc. part. I was kinda was thinking the Big G woulda been interested if they held out though. lol other than that... GOOD LUCK and congrats once again.)

[Wabuf]

Well, I guess there's only one thing to do and that's just to wait and see what happens next... I sure hope they don't increase prices as I do plan on buying more licenses.

[Luky]

It wouldnt be so bad if they shared a partnership for a few months before hand, instead of just passing it on to another company.

[EnIgMa1234]

Why is everyone presuming this is going to be so bad. What if it turns out to be a great thing. Maybe this will make vbulletin a lot better

[dotJoel]

We choose VB over IPB for one main reason, stability. We believed Jelsoft was a further matured and stable company over Invision Power. With this accusation going ahead there is one fear, and that is that the inspiration, the visionary of the whole idea is no longer at the helm. And what is left is a group of managers, who can manage things very well as they have done, but too see no more new life coming into their hands.

Sorry but there is a much greater percentage of accusations that end up bitter then positive.

A company buys another company if it believes it can create better cashflow out of what is there. You buy a company to make money from it, you change the company so it makes more money for you, then you sell the company at a greater prices as the projected returns are now more then what they were when you purchased it.

VB now is in danger of becoming a cashball, a product, and no longer a community. It is in danger of going from company to company, with each one trying its best to increase its profitability during its short ownership then handballing it onto the next.

Anyone remember what happened to iKonBoard when Jeg / Jarvis came about ? Ahh that's right, the core team ran like hell to make Invision Power Board.

We started with IPB, looks like in future we will return.

Hopefully I am proved completely wrong, and have to retract this post in the future. But chances are it won't exist 3 yrs from now.

Regards,

Joel

[Brandon Sheley]

Why is everyone presuming this is going to be so bad. What if it turns out to be a great thing. Maybe this will make vbulletin a lot better

Some ppl like to look for the worst action in things ;)

[RvG2]

Congrats and goodluck Jelsoft. :)

[Ramsesx]

Some ppl like to look for the worst action in things ;)

Maybe because the vbulletin software is a very important part of our websites and we spent a lot of time and energy to enhance and modify it to suit our needs?
It took me some thousand hrs to get this done and it would be a nightmare if major changes as code encryption or car advertising banners pop ups :eek: should be integrated in future versions. And sadly there is no alternative to vbulletin.

[Lea Verou]

I just hope that this will be different than photopost buying vbGallery a while ago. Remember? vBGallery died since...
Please don't do this...

[Paul M]

Maybe because the vbulletin software is a very important part of our websites and we spent a lot of time and energy to enhance and modify it to suit our needs?Indeed, however, just remember that even if Jelsoft suddenly vanished tomorrow (which they won't), you would still have the same fully working site, nothing would actually stop, so all the doom and gloom from people is a little OTT.

[giovannicosta]

Maybe good, maybe bad, we'll see...

[gator777]

I just hope that this will be different than photopost buying vbGallery a while ago. Remember? vBGallery died since...
Please don't do this...

That's the first thing that came to my mind when I read this post. VBGallery was bought out by Photopost, because it was taking revenue from Photopost. They gave all the customers an extra year of support/downloads, but never improved the product for two years except for maintenance releases. They don't even promote the sale of VBGallery much on their site, so as to promote their own substandard photopost product.

As a novice user of VBulletin, I was impressed with the many features it had to offer, and the amazing VB Org community and support. Initially, it was a major learning curve for me to learn how to install/modify, and maintain VB over the past couple of years. It took time, money, and a lot of post reading to figure out how to create and maintain my site, but I have enjoyed the product immensely.

No matter what is said in this thread, the bottom-line is money, money, and more money. I don't blame Jelsoft for selling out, because I'm sure they were offered a large chunk of change, and they had to take it. Although, as one of my mentors once said to me, "It's not how much money you have in the bank, but it's how much income you have coming in".

Save yourself a few hits on the keyboard, and let this one go. I know I will...

[sola]

I just hope that this will be different than photopost buying vbGallery a while ago. Remember? vBGallery died since...This is nothing like that. It isn't like the buyer has a competing forum software in the market. We all know PP bought VBG to garrot it to give PP room to completely corner the market. Of course the PP guys will tell you otherwise. But that's not even the issue here.

I'm done with this thread. Too many doomsayers. Change is not always a good thing, sure, but remaining static can be equally bad for a company. Let's wait and see...

[AuroraStorm]

1. Microsoft gave apple money, they didnt buy apple. Thus making that statement an incorrect answer to his question.

2. iPods are crap, they are made to cheaply, screen scratches, batteries die after 2-3 years and its impossible to get some good support.

3. Blogger is for noobs, as is a free forum host. Most people these days that want quality, no adds forced apon them and the customisation they want themself will purchase and host professionally. Also with their YouTube, i pefered the old layout much better then the new beta layout for the viewing of videos and the search results. Also Youtube are deleting alot of videos that should be deleted, for example videos against religion. How is that fair for people to say how good religion is but we are not allowed to say the bad things about it.

4. HP are very cheap, only a few hundred dollars for an extremly low spec machine. You can even buy them at Target. You are mad to purchase one.

5. ABC is nothing but documentary's, cooking and kid shows, i goto school for that crap.

6. I dont even know what Adelphia is.

The morral is, we use a product and a company because we like the product and the company, the way it is. We donot throw our money at you to make large changes as this. And dont say its not large, because it is. vBulletin is worth over hundreds of thousands, if not more, with the money you guys pull in.

Dude...you're hilarious...on point but hilarious!

As far as the sale is concerned, eh? I haven't received any decent support from the vbull.com site since I came aboard so whatever...can't be any worse than now or yesterday...or the day before...or the day before that...maybe I'll get something other than "there's nothing we can do for you" or "it's not our policy but if they pirate our license, then by all means please send us a snitch report" or just not get flat out ignored...

We'll see...

[GrendelKhan{TSU]

since it IS a big part of your sites? (mine too) why you guys are all being such haters and whiners???

IMO, why not try to contribute to a POSITIVE outcome if you are all so worried about it instead of just whining and moaning of how all is at an end? Since when does THAT help achieve your goal of a smooth transition and BETTER company? shoot yourself in the foot. self-fulling prophecy... etc etc.

And for the record, srry, but luky's post about company buyouts WAS hilarious to me too...hilarious in how ridiculously oversimplified and offbase it was. Not even worth commenting on or taking seriously because of it. Nothing personal, but that SOUNDS like a student rambling (ie: someone without a single clue as to the nature of business or M&As specifically.)

===========================

so...
GOOD LUCK AND CONGRATS JELSOFT!!!
and remember...silent majority. ;)
(I bet MOST are actually likely in the same general zone I'm in... ie: I am cautiously OPTIMISTIC and PSYCHED for the what this could mean on the UPSIDE. (heck, ppl might as well be as its DONE already and nothing you can do about it.)

PERSONALLY, I've dealt with a few buyouts from both ends ... and it can go eitherway (v.bad to GREAT) and seems to mostly come down to the people, corporate culture clash, and the nature of the buyout. So, do we know anything about the actually deal made? any clues on price? No? well then... again.... STOP SPECULATING as it helps NOTHING but create animosity and makes you FARTHER from the goal of a GOOD result.

So I DARE eveyrone to STEP UP and be USEFUL and throw in SUPPORT... or constuctive thoughts on your main concerns and reasons for loyalty to vb, so they know what to take more efforts in preserving. You can always bish later (which it seems like many would no matter how it went) if quality of product or supoort or whathaveyou is significantly afffected.

ANY manager or exectuive is MORE response to THAT...than idle, armchair threats, doom and gloom and just flat out whining.

Win-Win. no?

sheesh.

[HDT]

Doesnt mean to pray for bad luck to new owner VBulletin Product,but I have strong feel something bad waiting in the future with this products.We hope no need to switch to other scripts :(

By the way good luck to Jelsoft for fresh pound :)

[Yours]

I just hope that this will be different than photopost buying vbGallery a while ago. Remember? vBGallery died since...
Please don't do this...

How could it be anything similar to this? I.B. doesn't have their own forum software so them buying out vBulletin was just for profits and getting their name out in the online community. They didn't do it to throw vBulletin out the door. They know as much as the customers do that vBulletin is better and will always be better than any product out there. So what if they raise the price up? Does that mean it will die? NO. People will still buy the product without even thinking twice because the product is just that good. The product HAS to be good as it is the most nulled Forum Software script out there. PW had THOUSANDS of threads dedicated to vBulletin alone.

IMO, vBulletin will always be around. It can't just disappear because some company with no coding experience takes it over. They bought it, as I said, for profits, not to take it over and learn how to code. The coders will still be here and will still do what they have been doing since 2000 when vBulletin first came out.

All those whiners, just stop we aren't 5 year olds playing the "what if" game -- it just won't happen.

[Masiello]

Hmmmm Let's see how things turn out. I really don't know what has been going on and don't certainly want to speculate, but I find it kind of odd that one of the co-founders of VBulletin decided to seek other "interests" right at the time when this acquisition takes place.

Oh well, I could just be trying to see beyond what is being portrayed to the public. Let's just hope things work out and we don't see a price hike in the near future.
I agree what you say.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

May i ask this, have any of the coders for vBulletin be changed or modified?
There have been no changes in the development team as a result of the acquisation.

[rjmjr69]

I think some of the big questions have not even been asked yet..........

How much was the purchase price? Was it all cash or stocks or even a mix? I did read someone mentioning one of the part owners? Just left as this was happening? With the new company compensation declarations laws that were just enacted they have to report any parachutes or extras for whoever left. As well as who is still there. I wonder if its more than a coincidence?

I do not think they will be raising the price's anytime soon. I would think for them to make this purchase successful and too keep its customer base with the hopes to expand would be to lower the price or hold sales. Run promotions to do just that Promote to get a return on their purchase.... Get the Marketing done and fast

[Marco van Herwaarden]

How much was the purchase price?
It has been asked before, but this is information that i can not disclose (even if i did know the answer).

[Luky]

Indeed, however, just remember that even if Jelsoft suddenly vanished tomorrow (which they won't), you would still have the same fully working site, nothing would actually stop, so all the doom and gloom from people is a little OTT.
Then who is going to patch our security holes?

[SkyCatcher]

Will we see a raise in the license pricing?
Since the first release of vBulletin 1.0 in 2000, we have never raised the price of vBulletin licenses.


Actually he's correct. VB has actually only grown to become better and better and my hopes are that with more manpower and resources VB 4.0 will be the leading bulletin board with impressive features that will take us into Web 2.0.

I was just looking through old things when I decided to take a trip back.

Prices Stayed the Same (http://web.archive.org/web/20000621175524/www.digibuy.com/cgi-bin/order.html?vbulletin)


Features improved (http://web.archive.org/web/20000620155129/http://vbulletin.com/)

Lets see what happens and then start speculating about why it happened.

[Yours]

wow when vBulletin first came out their website looked like crap lol :P They really have come a long way though.

vBulletin won't change much from where it is going right now because of the fact that I.B. purchased something they are not specialized in.

Now in regards to the Co-owner leaving, maybe he just siezed the opportunity to move onto different (and perhaps better things for him). The other alternative to this is he got the boot from I.B. when they purchased vBulletin. Seeing as Jelsoft and I.B. is not telling us the more finer details we may never know the real reason.

[Ryuk]

congrats jelsoft ^^

[Wayne Luke]

Now in regards to the Co-owner leaving, maybe he just siezed the opportunity to move onto different (and perhaps better things for him). The other alternative to this is he got the boot from I.B. when they purchased vBulletin. Seeing as Jelsoft and I.B. is not telling us the more finer details we may never know the real reason.

The specific reasons for John's depature are listed in this thread:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=235463

[FreshFroot]

Hmmmm Let's see how things turn out. I really don't know what has been going on and don't certainly want to speculate, but I find it kind of odd that one of the co-founders of VBulletin decided to seek other "interests" right at the time when this acquisition takes place.

Oh well, I could just be trying to see beyond what is being portrayed to the public. Let's just hope things work out and we don't see a price hike in the near future.
I agree with you... it could become the best move vB has made.. or the worst move.. time will tell..

[Lea Verou]

Then who is going to patch our security holes?

Hey, the site might have underage visitors, watch your mouth!
:p:p:p:p:p:p

[Phooey]

This is certainly an interesting development... I sincerely hope that they take the product and improve on it, but it's always hard to tell what a company's true intentions are when they buy someone out.

Either way, I look forward to seeing what comes.

[Mikecp421]

i see some OG coders of vb starting their own version after this fails miserably

[Brandon Sheley]

i see some OG coders of vb starting their own version after this fails miserably

I don't see anything "failing" :rolleyes:

[dutchbb]

Congrats! I do not believe that it will negatively affect the company and its products. If the license and renew price increases, my first reply will be: finally. Because imo it's worth a lot more.


Show me one or two examples of something good being bought out by a larger coperation, and then remaining good.
Bodybuilding.com is doing pretty good so far.

And if vBulletin no longer exists in its current form in 2 years, i wouldn't be surprised.
Lol, seriously, are you from IPB?

[aeturner89]

i see some OG coders of vb starting their own version after this fails miserably
Do you have any evidence or facts to prove why it would fail?

[JamesHarrison]

If there's a price hike.. well, IPB has been getting better lately.

If there's a support problem or they start damaging the communities.. I've heard good things said about IPB and phpBB.

Simply put- there's alternatives. vB is great software and I'd hate to have to move, but it might end up being the case that moving is the only option. We can only hope that this will not come to that conclusion.

[deep_blue]

well might be good. but am surprised that one co-founder has decided to pursue other interests!!!!!

not a good omen

[Ohiosweetheart]

LOL - y'all are funny...

[Marco van Herwaarden]

well might be good. but am surprised that one co-founder has decided to pursue other interests!!!!!

not a good omen
John was already not involved in the day to day running of Jelsoft for a long time. His interest go to other ventures at this time. He made a post on vb.com explaining the reasons why he is leaving.

[cyberphr]

Oh noes, another religious nut. :o

wow when vBulletin first came out their website looked like crap lol :P They really have come a long way though.

Not crap at that time. :p

[Mikecp421]

I don't see anything "failing" :rolleyes:then you are short sighted :rolleyes:

Do you have any evidence or facts to prove why it would fail?nope and I won't follow up my statement, I have lived life and seen the end of this movie. Say what you feel thats your opinion just like mine is mine. I stand by what I say, mark my words and the similar sentiments of others like me here.

[MThornback]

I'm slightly concerned because there isn't much of a precedent for creative control staying in the hands of the little guy in these cases....but i'm also comforted by the fact that Jelsoft can't have been hurting TOO badly for money...so they probably have a better deal going for them then we know about from the outside looking in....

I'm cautiously optemistic...

[iogames]

I've participated in some acquisitions and mergers... let me tell you:
They can bring a whole new business strategy, but the PHILOSOPHY always stays with the Founders...

Reality Check ;)

[Hornstar]

Well time will tell, for now fingers crossed.

[ricochet]

Why is everyone presuming this is going to be so bad. What if it turns out to be a great thing. Maybe this will make vbulletin a lot better

I'm going to be launching a couple new boards soon and was getting updated on where the bulletin board market was at these days. I have run a number of boards with VB and UBB in the past, but now, I have to say I'm not too thrilled about this announcement. One thing I like in a software vendor is stability. Acquisition is the exact opposite of that.

Publicly, there's no way for us to know what IB really wants with Jelsoft. No press releases will reveal that. If its Jelsoft's technology or "brains" then the future is bleak for this program. If they truly just want to start selling bulletin boards and related software (which I doubt) then there's nothing to worry about. But, being on an acquiring team before, I know that the answer is unlikely to be as simple as any of those options.


R

[Andy R]

Congratulations to the Jelsoft team!

I have three words of advice from a hungry customer "Products, Products, Products".

I would be delighted to increase the product offering of our communities to our members (they would be very happy to, and that is what most). Social Networking & Blogging are at the top of my wish list but it is much much longer. If you ever need ideas for new products, just send me a PM!

[EnIgMa1234]

Have you not heard of the new blogging and social networking tool soon to be released?

Not to far if they have it running on vbulletin.com

[Andy R]

Have you not heard of the new blogging and social networking tool soon to be released?Yes, I saw that. I am very excited and ready to buy. Not to far if they have it running on vbulletin.comHopefully, each month that passes is time for our members to setup their blogs on other services, the sooner the better. As for social networking, I did not think that was released yet. That is another tool that will add a lot of value to our communities and allow the members to strengthen their friendships further. I hope social networking can come out as soon as possible also. It takes time for any of the tools to be adopted by members so even if we give them the basics to get started and roll out more features with upgrades, at least the connections are being made. Hopefully Internet Brands will help fuel this development so we can give our members what they want. This would be a great way for them to make a good impression on all their new customers!

[storpappa]

Capitalism is what makes the world go around. One wanted to cash out, theother wanted a job with better benefits. Pretty simple thing that happens all the time.

Why buy vBulletin? Cheaper then writing software themselves is a usual answer in IT worlds

[ricochet]

Since my last post IB has acquired a number of auto enthusiast communities. This is my market and is throwing up a huge caution flag for me personally.

After some research on the options I decided to go with IP.Board for my two new projects. It already has blogging, limited social networking, and a bunch of other things VB has been promising for years. (I've owned several VB Licenses).

I can't help but believe that eventuallly IB will trail the features in the commercial version versus what their own sites are running. It only makes sense. Can you imagine the boardroom conversations at IB if another site is out-performing an IB site using their own software?

If IB just acquired Jelsoft, that's one thing. They start acquiring properties in my space? Yes, that's a problem.

[Zachery]

Since my last post IB has acquired a number of auto enthusiast communities. This is my market and is throwing up a huge caution flag for me personally.

After some research on the options I decided to go with IP.Board for my two new projects. It already has blogging, limited social networking, and a bunch of other things VB has been promising for years. (I've owned several VB Licenses).

I can't help but believe that eventuallly IB will trail the features in the commercial version versus what their own sites are running. It only makes sense. Can you imagine the boardroom conversations at IB if another site is out-performing an IB site using their own software?

If IB just acquired Jelsoft, that's one thing. They start acquiring properties in my space? Yes, that's a problem.
What have we been promising for years now?

[ricochet]

What have we been promising for years now?

Okay, fair point. There was no promise, per se. It was more my expectation that a progressive community developer like Jelsoft -- that came on the scene and totally "rewrote" the way forums worked (I used UBB prior to VB) -- would take so long to adopt something as basic as blogs and move beyond the age old forum paradigm into even basic social networking features that were proving to be the "next wave" for several years now. So, expectation, not promise. I agree that's wasn't fair of me to call it a promise.

Though not directly related, I did wait a long time for the official VB CMS that was announced and seemingly took forver to ship. I'm assuming it shipped... I stopped using VB before it was released. ;)

Since I have your attention, any thoughts on those other points I made? They were the main reason for my post.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

There are no plans to restrict access to vBulletin for sites with topics that compete with other IB companies, or to add additional functionality to the IB communities that is not included in the product. It’s more likely that any custom code created by IB for their vBulletin communities can also be integrated into the product.

[EnIgMa1234]

Since my last post IB has acquired a number of auto enthusiast communities. This is my market and is throwing up a huge caution flag for me personally.

After some research on the options I decided to go with IP.Board for my two new projects. It already has blogging, limited social networking, and a bunch of other things VB has been promising for years. (I've owned several VB Licenses).

I can't help but believe that eventuallly IB will trail the features in the commercial version versus what their own sites are running. It only makes sense. Can you imagine the boardroom conversations at IB if another site is out-performing an IB site using their own software?

If IB just acquired Jelsoft, that's one thing. They start acquiring properties in my space? Yes, that's a problem.
All of these tools IPB has can be gotten for vbulletin either free (gallery) or a soon to be release (blogging).

[da420]

After some research on the options I decided to go with IP.Board for my two new projects. It already has blogging, limited social networking, and a bunch of other things VB has been promising for years. (I've owned several VB Licenses)..

Just a note.
IP.Board does not come with blogging, or a gallery. It costs extra to add that. However, IPCommunity which is their bundled community software includes IP.Board, IP.Gallery, and IP.Blog all into one suite at an extra cost. There is nothing wrong with this, but someone might misunderstand and think that IP.Board comes with all that you said, when it doesn't.