New Official vBulletin Add-on Products

[hambil]

We will announce the date when the date is announced - Marco "The Sphinx" van Herwaarden





*It's a Mystery Men reference. 'The Sphinx' (Wes Studi), who can cut guns in half with his mind, but as a mentor to the misfit superheroes spends most of his time uttering 'cryptic' but ultimately unhelpful aphorisms;

[rice]

i just cant wait to see spiced up profiles...thanks for making this a reality.

[Kiint]

The way I see this is that they have a few options.

1) They can release it as a paid addon where you have to pay a certain amount to get it implemented and working right for your users. This option will then mean they have to support 2 seperate products and update 2 seperate products together every time a new version of Vbulletin is released. It wont really make the forum system any more attractive than it currently is and only a percentage of people would actually use it if they had to pay for it.

2) They can implement it right into vbulletin as a new release, maybe 3.7.0, who knows, this will create a much more wanted system which will attract many more new customers, existing customers will be able to upgrade and use the system instantly without any trouble or decide to inactivate it within their control panel if they wish. With this method they will gain a larger customer base as people would rather choose a complete system like this rather than a seperate forum system from one of vb's competitors where they would have to buy an extra addon for it. If added to the forums as a default addon they would get a huge amount of people activating it an using it and building extra functionality for it. An idiotproof integrated system will cause a lot less hassle for their support personel and programmers whereas two seperate packages where a user has to install them together will cause a lot more grief for everyone.

These are my own opinions, but personally I would only use any of these new tools if they were released with the next upgrade under my current licence. If I had to pay for these new features then I just wouldn't even look at them twice as I know i can get other versions for free here on vbulletin.org if and when I want them.

It's great that they are investing time and resources into something that people are requesting but I sincerely hope they have a long hard think about how they are going to release them to their existing customers and potential new ones.

[amnesia623]

Originally Posted by sensimilla

Outstanding, I will not install any blog software now. Keep up the goos work guys!

This is what I'm afraid of. Someone will develop a 3rd party add-on and vBulletin will recreate it to make it 'theirs.' I know it sounds crappy I would bring it up, but this would discourage developers to develop software and 'hacks' for vB if they knew there was a possibility it was going to later be released by vB.

And I'm not talking about 'free' hacks either. I have bought my share of add-ons (vbseo, gars, gal, gab, vbphotovote, plus others...).

Right now my users are getting used to zoints. Now if vB offers a social networking aspect how will that effect development of zoints (zoints is an example). And because zoints is widely used, will there be a conversion script (once again, zoints is an example).

[rice]

i totally understand amnesia's point of view. very valid. i would also like to add that i have been waiting for a social networking/profile enhancement(example) from vbulletin FOREver(see vbspace and the like). i have yet to find one that i love and have literally been holding out for one. i am very thankful that one may be close. i would like to hope that everyone gets better simply by options and competition. there are more and more options being presented and i am very happy about this.

[amnesia623]

Don't get me wrong, I too am excited about the new add-ons and welcome change.

I just would rather see these ideas implemented as features of VB rather than add-on packs.

[ragtek]

i think than the hole vb would be more expensive
and why i should pay for something i don't need?

[Terminatoronly]

if u dont want it then dont buy it but there is many people do like this so that vBulletin staff is working on it not for 1 person

[---MAD---]

Originally Posted by amnesia623

This is what I'm afraid of. Someone will develop a 3rd party add-on and vBulletin will recreate it to make it 'theirs.' I know it sounds crappy I would bring it up, but this would discourage developers to develop software and 'hacks' for vB if they knew there was a possibility it was going to later be released by vB.

And I'm not talking about 'free' hacks either. I have bought my share of add-ons (vbseo, gars, gal, gab, vbphotovote, plus others...).

Right now my users are getting used to zoints. Now if vB offers a social networking aspect how will that effect development of zoints (zoints is an example). And because zoints is widely used, will there be a conversion script (once again, zoints is an example).

Very true indeed but I guess in the end, vBulletin is an established company and needs to produce a wider range of features for its forum software if it is to catch up with competitors.

[LouiseDM]

only a year behind IPB modding arnt you .... you finally woke up
Now you might think to add the mods to the actual forum itsself
That members create to help your cause