Obviously YaBB and the other free boards will start charging if the cornered a set % of the market.. who wouldn't? But don't you admire the plucky devils for the ammount of work they put into it?

I'm not saying YaBB doesn't have it's problems, if it was flawless I wouldn't have went the vB route, but I just don't like seeing something great, that comes free, knocked. I hope the crew from YaBB bring out an awesome next version, start charging $30 a pop and get something back for their hard work, same goes for phpBB..

They deserve the ca$h, as does everyone at vB who programmed this, the ultimate bulletin board of the moment. It really is a brilliant piece of kit and long may it continue.. if it gets more expensive though I'm going back to YaBB ;D

Im sure even people who think it sucks appreciate someone making a free product.. But if the whole motive is to get the market and then start charging what makes them a "hero"? I personally just say use what you like and let others use what they like...

Well, I would have to disagree on two accounts with you, the first being that Jelsoft is in it for the money, the second would be that phpBB and other boards do not get money (when I know they do).

I will start with Jelsoft, I am not taking up for them just because I bought the product and like it, I am disagreeing with you because if they were really in it for the money they would charge more like UBB and have less. You really have to take into consideration that JS has to pay employees and pay for the server costs (which I know from exp. that servers are not cheap, not good ones anyway). They are also paying people that do not use their product (Comission Juction fees) so there goes more of their money. The next thing that is paid is the DigiBuy fees from each purchase. Lastly from my knowledge (I am sure there is more) they have to pay taxes.

From all of that, I would say they are not making as much as you think from buying the product. Sure they are making money, just not as much as some people think.

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Onto free based boards, sure I would agree that those like XMB are probably not making any money but the larger more known boards such as YaBB, phpBB, ect are making money, you just don't know about it. Take a real close look at things, they have to pay for the servers they run the boards on (I don't see to many boards with so many members run actual on a shared hosting account). They make more than you know about, they just choose to hide it.

I am not trying to stir up arguments, just stating the facts. I believe it may have been FireFly that brought up what I just re-stated about vBulletin before, I could be wrong but I remember hearing that before from another member either here or at vBulletin.com.

I think Jelsoft makes a great product, again, but let's be truthful everyone has to make money someway - Jelsoft makes money by selling vBulletin, enogh to keep people employed.

If you can't afford the 85 / year or 165 / unlimited liscence, then the real question to be asking is whether or not you (the user) can afford webhosting. That alone can run you 250 - 300 $.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by AnDy_LiN
I was just wondering.

I think the board:
infinityboard.com
is a great board, it has a lot of potential

But, I have to credit VB, it is some great software!

I will give them credit for IB (InfinityBoard) for development, but I hate the way it looks and the way they have laid things out. I would not be willing to pay for it as I don't know anyone that has used it (in fact, that is the first time I ever heard of it).

Just from looking at their prices and they way they have their ordering setup, I would think that they had visited vBulletin.com and took a look and then made theirs ;) - maybe not, just kinds looks the same, in a way.

I don't know who started a lot of forum "traditions" but I see a lot of similarities in vBulletin and a lot of other software.. The way the hot thread works, the column for moderator, etc.. I would bet most free ones copy popular software like vBulletin, but it's always possible it was the other way around.

I am glad i brought it. I was using Ezboard and even considered buy the decent version, but this is much better, so many extras it is great.