R.I.P..... The end is here
 

With vBulletin announcing the end of life for vBulletin 3 and 4 I want to be the first to say R.I.P vBulletin you had a good long run but the end is here.

where did you read this?

I mean 3 has been EOL for a long while now but it still gets security updates I believe

I think the OP means development has completely ended on vB4. That was to have happened back in July. So far as I know only security updates will be issued.

Posted Yesterday

https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/foru...-x-end-of-life

They have not released any new version for a very long time that introduces major features so this comes as no surprise.

As long as they at least keep security updates.....i see this as more of a green light than anything to be honest.....it could actually increase appeal and profits for them imho......

all we need is security patches and vb4 can make alot more sense than vb5 for alot of ppl....

lets see, no new major upgrades so hack your styles into high heavens and mod them out beautifully with all the great resources people have shared over the years....never have to redo any of it?

ok im in...for options and custom ability it still has alot of pull in my eyes....

maybe for a simple forum not as much but in that light at least it is sort of exciting....

just keep the security patches at least please, people will still buy ;P

Even if they don't do security patches at some point, I'm sure other people will release unofficial patches. I feel like at this point vBulletin 3/4 itself is relatively secure against most major vulnerabilities though.

Don't stop the release security patch please for 3.8.x/4 series, please, We have not to update 5 series. Little bit listen your customers. @Wayne Luke.

vBulletin listen to it's customers? lol that would be a nice place to start but with the quality of vB5 they are obviously not listening to the right people.

Unfortunately, if company stop support completely for 3 and 4 series, than other forum software companies win. This is real. vBulletin, listen your customers and please be respectful who use 3&4 series. :mad:

I didn't see the vB4 notice..
https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/foru...te-end-of-life

seems like mainly an official announce for the vb.com archives to me......they been saying that was the case for well around a year now im pretty sure....like i say, i take it as a green light and good news.....so long as the security patches keep coming ;P

vBulletin 3.x is almost 14 years old. We're lucky they supported it this long. Try getting 14 years of support from Microsoft. Having said that there has been no official "end of life" declaration for vBulletin 4.x. It's users still receive security patches and support and it was upgraded earlier this year. The sky is not falling, Chicken Little.

Wayne does make any such decisions, he simply posts the announcements.

These two announcements are nothing new, this has been the case for a long time now. They simply state that no further development work will be carried out on vB3 or vB4. Old news.

--------------- Added [DATE]1514597745[/DATE] at [TIME]1514597745[/TIME] ---------------

I'm sorry to disappoint you on that one:

vBulletin 4.X Publishing Suite End of Life

The situation for both vB3 and vB4 is the same. 3.8.11 and 4.2.5 were the final planned releases for both branches.

Support will continue as normal, with the obvious caveat that if something turns out to be a bug, or a problem caused by third party changes (such as Facebook or PayPal), then those won't be rectified as they would require development work.

All development is now focused on vBulletin 5.

So, are you agreeing with the original post that the end is here? Your site still runs on vBulletin 4, does it not? Joe's site was running on vBulletin 4 last I knew. My point was it's not like sites running vBulletin 4 no longer function.

Now, if it hadn't been upgraded to function with PHP 7.1 that might have caused a much more immediate concern.

No, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with anything, just putting the facts out there.

its really better off.....dont you guys think? short of not fixing those 3rd party type new bug situations...which personally i dont think effects me much...

remember vb4 was abandoned as half done to begin with so idk where they would even start developing again....the cms? haha...seems like a clear waste of effort...but by now, it finally seems to matter less...as there are better options then those type cms stuff that never got finished anyway... i just switch off and if i ever need something like that so bad, there are wiki mods and several such options still being actively developed FOR vb4....

possibly even moreso in the near future and developers will not have to worry about having to redo their work after another vb4 release...its good news really right? ;P

happy new year lets celebrate ;P

I think you can make any version of vBulletin amazing with the right plan and the right mindset. Some of the most popular gaming forums still operate on vBulletin 3.x versions. I think some people put too much emphasis on the most recent technology or the bells and whistles and not enough emphasis on the content. Ultimately, you can have a hugely successful blog on a single HTML page with the right content. A forum is just a tool.

I don't think the developers and support team members have much say on what should and should not be worked on development wise so let's not all put the blame on them.

I've personally worked on projects in the past where I got blamed on decisions that were made by people higher up.

Unfortunately, those "higher ups" are the same people who made the decisions that led the product to this point. They should condescend to speak with their customer base in the interest of the future of this product.

I can't really blame them for not doing so. Whenever anyone's tried this in the past, the disgusting abuse, insults and even threats they end up receiving beggars belief.

I don't doubt that in the least. It's certainly not productive to have such discussions. By the same token it's unproductive to have Wayne Luke and the rest of the IB Staff be a human firewall for the higher ups. There is such a thing as constructive criticism. How can any company supply software which meets customer demand if they don't know what customers demand? This is the mistake that's been repeated with this software. Some three letter acronym thought it would be a good idea to use the latest technology. Let's call him the Chief Technology Officer. He ran this by another three letter acronym. Let's call him the Chief Executive Officer. They discussed the development costs with a third three letter acronym. Let's call him the Chief Financial Officer. Then the concept was passed through the ultimate arbiter of three letter acronyms. Let's call him the EVP. The Executive Vice-President Of Things And Stuff.

The decisions were made by a bunch of Chiefs and no Indians. The Indians are the ones using the product. Obviously, the Chiefs are never going to like everything the Indians have to say. That's why there are still limits to the right to free speech. Because the Chiefs are not going to like what the Indians have to say. The kings are not going to like that the barons want rights. They still need to hear it. If you have no subjects you're an emperor with no crown, no kingdom, and no clothes.

No one is saying IB is obligated to agree with the wishes of its customer base at every turn. It can't agree with its customer base on anything when it doesn't even know or care what its users want in the product BEFORE they purchase it. Good software companies don't supply something not in demand and then leave it to their developers to fix it.

Good companies figure out for what there is a market by asking the market. We, the customers, are the market. It's not about venting or justice. It's good business.

"Common sense is not that common" - Steve Harvey

^ I love Steve Harvey, man is he funny and on point ;).

Needless to say a vast majority of the population are morons so if they don't realize Wayne is a human shield per say and look past that, we've lost all hope for humanity... well I already have long ago based on driving habits - point is not to only be amazed in this day and time by positive things not bs we all know nothing can be done about. Be well informed and place blame where it should be, give credit where it's due.

The notification of EOL is that final push we all needed, my first 1m+ post site was moved yesterday to a better platform and the others will be following soon.

In my opinion the EOL announcement didn't matter much, it was already pretty known that they've given up on development of vBulletin 3 and 4, especially after Paul M left.

Paul left permanently?

Yes.
He talked about it in this thread https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...=322893&page=2 and here https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...32#post2587632 about vBulletin 3/4 EOL.

hmm he said that i am making my own 3.8.12? is it offically? what does it mean?

He just means he will make his own version for his own personal use.

There will be no further official releases of either vB3 or vB4, and nobody is entitled to release their own full versions.

Two days ago, I bought VB5 Connect just to upgrade my VB 3.x/plugins to 3.8.11. To not lose all my work of several years, I will be interested by a version 3.8.12 in the future.

My forum is private hidden behind a htaccess (private a bit like Facebook), so I don't care very much about security and SEO. Only the portability in PHP of 3.8.11 is a concern for me.

I will test 5.3.4, it's in the package.

yaeh, i agree with you, i will be interested by a version 3.8.12.

There will be no new versions of vBulletin 3 and 4 as stated before. Paul was just talking about making his own private version that he will call 3.8.12.

already he created 3.8.11, so will create 3.8.12 perfectly i think.

I think you are misunderstanding me, he longer works at Internet Brands (vBulletin). He's not allowed to release a new version.

He can freely modify it for his own forum, but him releasing it for everyone else to use would be illegal as it goes against vBulletin's license agreement and terms & conditions.

Just in case it wasn’t clear in my earlier post and the linked announcements:
There will be no new versions of vB3 or vB4.

at least, support for next php versions. we would like to use php 7.2 and others.

As I said, there will not be ANY further full releases of vB3 or vB4, this includes php compatibility releases.

it's so sad :(, because i think 3 series was golden era for vBulletin.

vBulletin 3 is now over fourteen years old. It's not possible to continue to develop software that old indefinitely.

This is old news, all work on vB3 and vB4 stopped when I left.

I have my own working versions (3.8.12 & 4.2.6) that support PHP 7.2.
They are untested, other than my own private testing, but should work fine.

As noted, these are not "official" as I no longer work at IB, and could not be released publicly (unless by some miracle they decided to allow it).

As always, sites can be worked on and updated privately, and I may at some point offer a private upgrade service.