That's what vb5 is counting on, also they closed down the feedback forums on vb.com a long time ago so the general public couldn't see how horrible the customer reviews are.

Here are a few reviews that I found with a quick google search
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.vbulletin.com

Internet brands bought vbulletin is 2007, which was 8 years ago. It's gone downhill since.
Internet brands sold to KKR last year.

No one is excited about vbulletin 5, which you're figuring out now if you've started playing with it.

yeah see my problem is as i moved out of development I moved out of that 'loop' or i'd have known all this.

I'm still not terribly worried, althought I have yet, in two tries, to get it to install but I'm sure once i get back up to speed I'll figure it out. I just ran th install script to see if it would work out of the gate.

I was suspicious when they switched from a license you had to renew annually to a one time for-the life-of-the-version system. The way you make money with that is planned obsolescence and (hopefully) improvements.

I've regarded "New and Improved!" with deep skepticism ever since about 1980 when Heinz 57 Sauce was "improved" to taste like spicy ketchup.

Products seem to travel an arc from their early designs when improvements made them better to a time when 'improvements' just change them to a time when "improvements" make them worse.

let's be honest here. Most software that gets huge comes in, gets big, stays awhile then fades and something else comes in.

vb was the defacto bb system for a very long time. it surprised me, but it was alsot pretty nice because i hate having to learn something new (i think that's called being lazy).

Oh well life goes on. I don't think I'll be jumping ship any time soon unless i run into huge problems

vBulletin showed no signs at all of fading, until IB totally screwed it up with version 5.

that's my point. it weathered that long storm that usually separates the big time programs with the here today gone tomorrow style

But, that's not what you said. :D

There was no storm, until the release of version 5.

Definitely not true. Maybe you were not around when vB4 was released, but if that wasn't a strom, I really don't know. People tend to forget that the first versions of vB4 were absolutely horrid. It became usable not before 4.0.7 or so, and what I would call stable not before 4.2. Not it's solid, thanks to the forum's codebase being still largely vB3 code - but if you want to see where vB5 comes from, just look at the vB4 CMS.

I agree although I have a feeling they simply ignore feedback and feature requests for vBulletin 5?
vBulletin 5 could be a good product if they simply listen to the developers and customers.

And why should they now, all of a sudden, after six years (at least), do that? It will not happen.

Anyway, I have seen enough of vB5 code that there will ever be a turnaround. Even if they would start to listen, by now I doubt that they could do it.