I think reaction from vb.org peoples will be important, modding community is one of advantages of vb over competitors. If you compare vb and alternative products in current state (like ipb) - difference will be not that big without it. And if modders will stay with 3.x (like xp is still more popular then vista) - it will have effect on vbulletin future...

Over the past 2 to 3 years there have been tremendous advances in open source forum software, whereas vBulletin have pretty much sat on their corporate backsides and provided very few improvements. Most of the hacks/modifications and board styles that make vB look good are provided by third party developers who often give their work away for free here.

Just where is vBulletin going to be if they price these people out of the market? I for one have absolutely no intention of paying vBulletin/Jelsoft ever again, and I'll use what's left of my existing owned licence to port my work to open source . . . phpBB, MyBB etc.

Precisely.

And they were still selling the blog even after they knew we were throwing our money away on it, since we'd have to buy the Suite to upgrade it. I don't care what kind of a happy spin they try to put on that one, I know when I've been mugged.

And from what I read over there, apparently if we don't upgrade to 4.0 we don't get to come over here and download Mods anymore when our current license expires. And, we can't renew our 3.8 license - we can only upgrade. Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, which I hope I am. All my favorite things on my current version of vB are mods that came from here.

I must admit as a newbie here I'm completely confused. I bought the vBulletin 3.8.4 software only a couple of weeks ago and it took me long enough to get my head round that! Now it's all being changed again? I like the idea of a free upgrade but don't understand these new terms regarding licenses. :o

I'd be very greatful if someone could please give me some advice - do I upgrade to 4.0 for free or stay with 3.8.4 until my licence expires? I don't own or need a blog so what are the future costs if I upgrade to 4.0 for free now? Technically if 4.0 is better then can't I just upgrade for free then stick with 4.0 indefinitely?

Apologies if I'm asking stupid questions but just can't seem to wrap my head around all this! :(

i think for me vb finished at 3.8...

From what i gather, you can still stay with 3.8.4 as long as you want. They said something about supporting it until they release 4.2. I'm not completely sure how it works in terms of upgrading your owned 3.8.4 license to the 4.0 one. I only have a leased one, (which expires some time in April) but i can upgrade for free or get the discount for 130$ if i decide to buy the 4.0 suite. Not entirely sure why they made it that way, and if my license will expire in April, if i still decide to purchase the 4.0 Suite..

I've sent vB.com a support ticket and hopefully they will answer this issue.

Edit: Just got my answer from the support

Just thought id post it here, in case it would be to help for anyone.

Thank you Llandy for your reply. :)

I guess what hacks me off is I've spent 2 weeks getting my head around vBulletin and building my forum & uploading lots of products, styles etc. and my forum will be ready to go live in the next week or two. So I'm faced with the prospect of delaying release of my forum until the 4.0 comes out or just carrying on as if it's not happening! lol! What annoys me is that all these products etc. won't work on 4.0 so maybe I'm wrong but won't I have to wait until new products are written for 4.0? Also if I do push back the release date so that I can be running 4.0 then when will 4.0 actually be released? Are we talking weeks or months? And how long can I upgrade to 4.0 for free for?

Oooh why didn't I just stay in bed today! lol!

Well, you should contact vB.com and ask them if u get the free upgrade or not. If you do, then you could always download the upgrade and install it later? Like with you, I've got the latest 3.8.4 version, and will most likely purchase the 4.0 suite in a week or so (so i get the discount). Apart from that, i have no rush in upgrading my forum to 4.0 :)

Oh now that's a smart idea. It does say I get the free upgrade so what I could do is download it and then when all the 4.0 plugins, products etc. become available I could then install it. Hmm that works! I like it! :)

Although I'm also peeved because I spent money on this gorgeous skin for my site and I'm guessing that won't work with 4.0 :(

Thanks for the advice though! You've been so kind and helpful! :)

Hehe, no worries. Yeah, just give it some time and you'll have loads of good free mods, skins and design for the 4.0 version. Meanwhile enjoy your vB software, it's awesome ;)

I'm sure with some minor tweaking, your skin can be used on 4.0.