Unfair on Developers
 

Hi,
I think the fact that you need a license to be able to download or view any of the mods here is proposterous. If you're a developer like I am working on a vBulletin site, and your client does not give you a key, or has already used it, then where are we to turn?

Furthermore, how is releasing mods to the public going to harm vBulletin in any way, shape or form? The mods are free - you don't lose money. The mods are not the original forum software - they're useless without it.

It's a real pain in the neck. My situation right now is that I need to look at modifications for a potential client - and getting a license is impossible to obtain since there is no contract yet.

It's also unfair when you go to a site and see your modification available to download by anyone regardless if they have a vbulletin license or not.
I upload all my hacks to vbulletin.org because I know there is a smaller chance of someone pirating my work.

If vbulletin.org let everybody download our work then there will be more site popping up with all our hacks.

That's the way it is I'm afraid, it's not going to change. If there was no piracy in the world then we'd all be much happier, but sadly there is, and we will not support it by allowing unlicenced users to download modifications.

+1 I believe thats the main point of it. But if your working for a client why wouldn't they give you access to the tools you need to do your job? And if your into doing allot of that work maybe you should just consider it an operational cost and get your own license and that way there you can go to town on your own test board.

But I can sympathize with your pains. I guess its a catch 22 type situation.

I don't see how it can be considered unfair to the people that release their work here. They can always upload it some place else if they want.

You don't need one. Your client simply has to give you the proper permissions by going to the member's area.

There are no 'keys', you simply grant access to the people that need it. Multiple people can be tied to the same license. At any rate if your client refuses to give you this access, and you require that access to finish the job then it's his problem..not yours. ;)

Yea like i was just thinking
Like vBhackers, vbfaq, vbnova, vbfans, vbcoderz, many more...

Well I was talking about your own web space but that works to I suppose.

So for you it's more a matter of worksmanship than money? But even so, it's not losing _you_ any money if you're not one of those "creator's pride" types.

In response to all the comments saying "hey, they'll give you license keys!" - I'm afraid some of them won't. My recent client was very access paranoid and I wasn't given much to play with in terms of webspace, and the same was true when he asked me to mod his vBulletin forum.

Aside from that, do you not think it's a good idea that legitimate developers and organizations can have access to the mods - and the mods only - to familiarise themselves to them? In the end, everyone's happy: the client is, because they get what they want; the developer is, because they have implemented the solution quickly; and the vBulletin community is because their mods are being used.

Of course, it could be argued that it could be a situation where a developer was working on an illegally acquired version of the software. In that case, any *legitimate* and honest developer (such as myself, for example) would advise the client to either pay for the license or use a free and open source solution, and would object to working with pirated software until the issue was addressed.

The reason why I don't work with, and don't plan on working on, pirated software is a matter of reputation and professionalism.

If your client won't grant you access then ask him or her to download the modification for you.
I downloaded hacks just to see how they work such as AJAX and I'm guessing that's what you want to do.

I personally feel that the logic of vBulletin.org is correct and the logic of your client is not. And bad logic is what should be changed, not correct logic. I guess it's tough but they're paying you to work and if they won't allow you to work...well, what are they paying for? Convince them.

Why would your client be access paranoid? Just tell him/her to add your email address you used to sign up with here on vB.org, and be done with it. The system will update and vBulletin.org will automatically allow you to start downloading plugins.

There is no reason for your client to be access paranoid. That's just silly, unless your client is nervous to log into his own members account. :p

Tell your client to add your email address here: http://members.vbulletin.com/membersupport_priority.php He can delete your email address at anytime, by doing so, you will lose access to download plugins.

Other then that, there are alternative sites... vBHackers.com for one. ;)

And how would you tell if the client is using licensed software or not?

All licensed customers have access to our modifications, and have the option to add 1 or more email addresses to recieve support on our forums.

That's not 100% accurate. You can view all the mods you want. You can search for them, read their descriptions, user comments, etc. You can do all that as a guest. You just can't download them. Everything you need to make recommendations to your client is available to you.

Your client can download any list of mods you give them, at no cost. You can then look over the code if that is a concern before installing. After you've asked them to download yet another mod, they might even change their mind about giving you access. ;)

you have the comment of some coder that does not want to invest to make profits... that's not bad... but then you can't complain about a protocol that work perfectly for the last years ...

if you really want to work for that client, you have to make a deal with him... enter your email in his members area at vb.com will make you available to access all the hacks released here...

you have also to consider to abandon that kind of clients you can't reach... you can't do everything at once. if you don't want to invest a minimal leased license of vBulletin to have access to everything, that's you to blame, not us...

i started that way here... i once leased a license because some commercial client required me to learn the software and create some tools for him... the guy was paying well, so i had the change in return... and now i'm a respected vBulletin coder because i know about every lines of codes from it... and i can tell you that it's better than anyother software, because people are serious clients... i can tell by comparing with Postnuke clients... i'm the Postnuke founder...