Jelsoft Acquired

[Marco van Herwaarden]

I will try to answer some of the question raised in this thread.

If there are any more questions, feel free to post them in this thread and i will try to answer if possible.

What will change for vBulletin.org?
As all the members here have an interest in the future of vBulletin.org, this is a question that is on the mind of many members.

vBulletin.org has always been a website that, although supported by Jelsoft, have been run by volunteer members out of the community. There are no plans at the moment to make any change in how vBulletin.org is operated.

Will we see a raise in the license pricing?
Since the first release of vBulletin 1.0 in 2000, we have never raised the price of vBulletin licenses. The key strategy moving forward is not to shift prices markedly upwards and make buying vBulletin an unattractive proposition, but rather to offer a broader range of products and services to better cater for all audiences.

[Adrian.]

I wonder if this means they will be developing more products. (Other than vB)

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Jelsoft is already developing more products. Project Tools was recently released, and the BLog is running beta at vbulletin.com at this time.

[GrendelKhan{TSU]

hey you guys made front page news at WebMasterWorld!! Congrats!!

[Calash]

Hewlett Packard's purchase of Compaq computers which increased the features available on their computers and the quality while lowering prices for consumers across the board.

I would disagree with you there...the features and quality of all HP/Compaq product lines has maintained with the industry. This is not a result of the merger.

From my point of view that merger was not good, it made working with the company WAY more difficult...there support end is still in transition.

Other than that I agree with you. We will have to wait and see how this merger works out.

[Antivirus]

I will flip if they start encrypting the source with ioncube and zend... that's my only real concern because it's so vital to the development community for add ons, etc... if the price rises a bit that's ok by me, i think vbulletin is worth it, but i'll be very disappointed when / if they start encrpypting the source code.

[Rich]

I can't say I am thrilled that a corporate business bought them out, but I certainly understand why vBulletin went with it.

Past corporate buyouts of other companies has shown how easily things can go terribly wrong. I hope that nothing changes in regards to how vBulletin is currently sold and managed.

Time will tell if this is good for the vBulletin Community.

Originally Posted by Antivirus

i think vbulletin is worth it, but i'll be very disappointed when / if they start encrpypting the source code.

encryption is one thing... if they provide the encryption key to developpers and product creators, the encryption is good... something like we pay 500$ to be able to access the core code and provide real efficient products built upon it... this will discourage the hackers and the coders-to-be... (because admit it, you prefer a hack that works, not a hack that need to be recoded each time a version is released)

[Luky]

Originally Posted by Marco van Herwaarden

What will change for vBulletin.org?
There are no plans at the moment to make any change in how vBulletin.org is operated.

Really? I can think of alot of tips for vbulletin.org, i dislike the way it is operated and you are using the same colours that default vbulletin uses, totally gross. Bring back that old skin, the blue one that some external site designed for you.

Originally Posted by Marco van Herwaarden

Will we see a raise in the license pricing?
The key strategy moving forward is not to shift prices markedly upwards and make buying vBulletin an unattractive proposition, but rather to offer a broader range of products and services to better cater for all audiences.

Invision Power Board is $5.00 cheaper than vbulletin. Why don't the prices get lowered to beat them? You display not much competition at all to the person with alot of money in their pocket and no brain, the type of person who buys a forum and sets it up with no idea. But what does Jelsoft care, they still get the money, right?

Originally Posted by Marco van Herwaarden

Jelsoft is already developing more products. Project Tools was recently released, and the BLog is running beta at vbulletin.com at this time.

There is already a free project tools, the MGC one, i am using it and in my opinion i would rather pay for that one instead of the jelsoft one, i really dislike the jelsoft one. MGC's is very simple and straight forward.

Originally Posted by Luky

May i ask this, have any of the coders for vBulletin be changed or modified?

Answer?


Edit: @ nexialys, i would be extreamly p!553d if they even charged a dollar for the code. It would mean hundreds of people moving into IPB from vB. And personally, i dislike IPB's template system. Normal forum owners should be able to customise the core the way they like. The only thing that should be encrypted is the copyright. But it wouldnt matter if they encrypted it all, it would only take one person to purchase the key or to decrypt it and then release it to everyone on underground forums.

[Wayne Luke]

There are no plans for vBulletin to move to a closed source model. Also, there are no plans to implement any additional call-home elements.