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.
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03-27-2007, 10:39 PM
Hybrid Mode
