[Marco van Herwaarden]

1. Most hosts that offer a supported version of PHP and Mysql should be able to run vBulletin. Installing vBulletin is not difficult and if the instructions are followed then it should also not be a problem for a less experienced user. If installing, if needed with the assistence of our support team, is something you don't want to do yourself, then you can purchase the Professional Installation service at any time. For a starting board a shared hosting solution might be the best way to start.

2. Running a live website from a home server is not really recommended. Most personal (home) internet connections are not capable of serving many pages towards the internet.

3. I suggest that you start looking for a dedicated server once a VPS is not sufficient anymore.

PS To those that say that vBulletin is not easy, my personal view:
- Installing vBulletin is easy, most of our customers can do this without any assistence.
- Running vBulletin might look difficult in the beginning because of the large number of options. Once you get familiar with the AdminCP, it should however not be too difficult.
- Changing the looks of your board, might be as simple as installing a ready made style. Ofcourse you can also adjust the looks yourself, which is mostly done with plain HTML/CSS. If you do not have any HTML experience, but still want to have a custom style, then it might be advisable to hire someone with more experience.
- Installing most modifications can also be done with just a few clicks. If you want to write your own customisations, then ofcourse you will need to have more PHP/MySQL/HTML knowledge.

Bottom line: Default vBulletin is not too difficult to install or run.