I agree Gio - and I know for me personally - I will not be in a great hurry to upgrade my current boards to the 4.0 series - I'm quite happy with the features in the 3.8 series - So as long as the version is viable, with no security risks - then I shall remain a loyal fan. Any new projects, however, I will likely recommend and use the 4.0

Jacquii.

Hi Jacquii
If after 4.0 comes out and a new security problem develops with 3.0 serious, how will I go about fixing this problem if there are no further offical updates from VB? Are these security problems usually extensive and will it cost me a lot or are they usually small fixes and therefore only a few hours of tech support? I guess my second big concern is that if I stay with VB3.O will it eventually be a tech support money pit?

Gio~ Thank you for this information. It is a little reassuring.

All and all, it's not the end of the world but its really is a pain. :D

Hmmm - I am not really sure how to answer this question GSeybold. I know that generally there will be patches provided by vBulletin as long as the version is still supported. But yes - if you decide to keep a version which is no longer officially supported - it becomes your responsibility to make sure there are no security issues and that all exploits are patched/fixed. The interesting thing is that there is the larger online community that exists, like www.milw0rm.com for example. So - whenever an exploit is found - it's generally reported. And the word spreads quickly.

I'm not familiar with the procedure used for any outdated vBulletin versions personally - perhaps someone else may be. But generally whenever an exploit is found - a patch might be developed... I would assume that any exploits found in outdated vBulletin versions may be remedied by members of the larger online community and freely shared (or sold) throughout the vB community.

I do know that there are boards still running unsupported versions of vB just fine - even the ancient vBLite LOL - I think WinAmp Forums is still running a modified version of vB 2.0 :)

So - all of that was a really long-winded way of saying "I don't know" https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/

Jacquii.

For answer number 2 I would say give SMF a try. They have quite a good community there & have some really nice mods and what have ya.

As long as the (major) version is supported there will be at least security updates. End of life of a version will be announced on vB.com and is announced long before the end-of-life date.

Thank you Marco. I hate to say this but what do you mean by "Major". Sorry to ask. :o

A major version is 2.x -> 3.0.x -> 3.5.x -> 4.0.x

(Not counting 3.6//3.7/3.8 as major versions as they are mostly just newer releases of 3.5)

<font size="1">Well, you can always get a 3.x style done for 4.x.....</font>