Will the vB3 licensees be forced to vB4 ...
 

....and join hands with the rest of us 4x'ers ?

Or, could their versions last for many more years ?

There's plenty of old threads on vbulletin.com and I'm sure some here even that touch base on this same subject.

Leased = When it expired you quit using or pay for vB4.
Owned = You can run indefinetely, option to purchase 3 month maintenance pack is available.

Not sure what else your looking for but there have been many changes to the license agreement and how pricing goes so best bet is for you to do some "homework" so you can make a more well informed decision before jumping to 4.x etc.

I am a vB4 licenesee...with some envy for the vB3 licensees (but not enough envy to downgrade).

Just wondering when we'll all be "one:" vB4x (if ever)

Since I still come across some 2.x forums and 3.0 forums (very different than 3.5 and up), then I doubt we will ever all be as one.

I have seen a few boards still running 3.5. If they get it set up like they want it and things are working right, they just leave it as be and concentrate on other things.