you can see it the way you want Zachery... so then you ALWAYS do the jobs here for free ?!.. .always volunteers to answer paid requests for free ?!...

please drop the idealistic visualisation, we're not in the StarTrek period yet...

most of the coders i know here are interested to make a living of their coding. most of them also have their efforts in other projects where they are paid to build vBulletin hacks and products... they are not here for smiles...

if you look at Google though they have been acquiring most of their new technologies. I was really just pointing an interesting fact that they manage several large communities that run vBulletin.

Yes but in Googles case - those aquisitions are directly related to the enhancement or expansion of thier core business and product lines.

My thoughts exactly. Vbulletin is a completely different market and concept of what they currently deal with. Maybe Internet Brands is thinking of turning Vbulletin into a "large ticket" forum package. Usually with moves like this 2 things happen: the price increases and support goes by the wayside. I'm sure you will have every Jelsoft employee tell you differently, but the history of such "acquisitions" tells the whole story.

The thing that concerns me the most is that many sites using vB are actually competitors of IB's own sites!

Will they start 'crushing' that competition by holding back features? Will they just kill vB full stop and all future releases will be priced so high that only 'they' and a limited few can really use it? How much does $1,500 sound? I know lessor pieces of software selling for that much!!

There's just so much uncertainty - but I hope all our fears are unfounded and actually, it's the best thing to happen to vB.

I also hope they reach out to the community themselves (and soon) with an announcement from their own chairman/md.

the only thing positive in such situation is the wallet of Jelsoft's guys... do you seriously think it would benefit anyother ?!... this is a transaction from owner to owner, not a deal with the clients...

I think some of the responses in this thread are pretty unbelievable. We've been told things will continue just as they have been. Whether this is true or not is yet to be seen. This is like preemptive outrage which is just silly.

I especially resent the idea that vB modders should be paid, as if it's a matter of principle. As another member already pointed out, if you don't want to volunteer then get outta here.

At this point all we know for sure is that Jelsoft was acquired. The best scenario is things improve, worst scenario is things get worse. Given how Jelsoft has always been true in the past, I am confident they wouldn't have made a deal that would be detrimental to the community.

Invision Power guys were all the same before... they always told they would not higher the price of their free forum... now it is one of the high-priced software on the market...

same for Postnuke that i'm the founder of... i quit the project when the guys decided to go commercial, in case they start selling stuff over it... they have done, and now the project is in stasis...

a lot of projects like this one are promissing and going in the right pathh until someone buy them for the marketshare...

My point is that Jelsoft didn't go to a software shop. That's where I see the risk. vBulletin needs the systems and tools of a real software shop to get to the next level (see: 3.67 PL1 and all the thrashing around new "products"). I was kinda holding out hope that Jelsoft would do a 4.0 version with a real Web 2.0 interface, end user "drag and drop" customization, and especially fixing that half-done calendar system.

Not slagging the existing product or the people who created it, but the rusty vB user interface needs some serious updating... and I don't see IB making that investment -- or at least sharing it with the existing base. If I'm wrong I'll admit that, but I've been in the software industry a l-o-o-o-ng time and this simply does not compute for me in any way that looks positive. Hope that's wrong.

:erm: Reading this thread is like reading the Chicken Little story all over again...