How Does VB Licensing Work?

[T0PS3O]

Need to play around with it before going live so I was wondering whether a license is tied to a domain or not.

I will install 2 or 3 forums but don't know the final order yet. I first need to hack up some custom mods on a dev domain. Can I buy a license and transer it to any domain? Can someone briefly explain the process?

Thanks.

[digitalpoint]

It's 1 license per forum... not tied to a domain. As long as you take down an existing forum from your domain, you can transfer it to another.

[T0PS3O]

Cool thanks. And VB is open source as in I can see all of the code, right? Any modding tips you can share to ensure smooth upgradability?

[FFMG]

Cool thanks. And VB is open source as in I can see all of the code, right? Any modding tips you can share to ensure smooth upgradability?

Yes, all the code is open source.
You can quite easily plug in your code, (or use many of the mods available).

In my experience it does take a little bit of time to get used to the structure/inner workings, but it not that hard.

FFMG

[joeychgo]

Yup - open source.... Template driven so modification is easy.


Come on over to vBulletin-faq (http://www.vbulletin-faq.com) tops - we'll help ya out.

[T0PS3O]

Thanks, might well do that if I get into trouble. Since starting this thread I started the MOD for phpBB and I'm 30% finished so if VB is as straight-forward I should be capable of cracking this.

Next question then. Suppose hypothetically I want to sell my MOD, like VBseo I guess, do you have any guidelines on protecting it in terms of it not being distributed freely? I'm not interested in closing the source but wouldn't like to see my client selling it to one geezer and then all of a sudden everybody has it. Does VBseo work with a license key of sorts or is it all just trust based?

[ResaleBroker]

To my knowledge VBSEO uses a License Key.

[joeychgo]

If your asking -- What if you create a hack and want to sell it - what stops people from trading it personally -

Nothing - unless you build in a liscense key. But most of the forums around such as vBfaq, vb.org, vbhackers, etc -- will delete a hack if you show us its really yours and you didnt authorize its release.

[Endurer]

You can use ioncube to protect the source. That guy with myspace profile mod is already doing it. It's not entirely possible to keep it away from the warez guys distributing nulled scripts but you can make it difficult for them. License key is a good option.

I'd suggest that you take a look at those commercial Vbulletin mods to see how they are protecting their products.

[T0PS3O]

Won't a license key require my code to 'phone home' in order to verify against my database of valid licenses? I'm not sure how that actually works. Or would it only do that once, during installation so I can mark it in use by xyz domain?

It sounds like more hassle than it's worth, I may just have to rely on the trust factor (I know I won't get to a great extent). I guess if I price it low enough people won't mind paying.

[smfseo]

vbseo works with a liscence key and they used to have an inbuilt call home feature but had to remove it coz once thier server goes down for a couple of hours all other sites using vbseo used to show errors..

The best way to sell a mod like vbseo in my opinion is have a liscence key and build a custom search engine which would constantly send spiders to sites with vb (ride google first to find out vb forums) and report any mods being used on any unauthorised domains :) send a quick mail to the user first to pay for the mod and if they dont respond give thier host a shout :)
If you dont know how to do it hire a free lancer :)

All this only if your mod is going to change life on forums and is going to cost a few hundred $$$ :)

[FFMG]

vbseo works with a liscence key and they used to have an inbuilt call home feature but had to remove it coz once thier server goes down for a couple of hours all other sites using vbseo used to show errors..


I am not sure I like those 'call-home' options. They can be removed, (as you mentioned).


The best way to sell a mod like vbseo in my opinion is have a liscence key and build a custom search engine which would constantly send spiders to sites with vb (ride google first to find out vb forums) and report any mods being used on any unauthorised domains :) send a quick mail to the user first to pay for the mod and if they dont respond give thier host a shout :)
If you dont know how to do it hire a free lancer :)


Why not always use Google?
Have the bot, (yours), search the top 100 google sites on a certain keyword(s) and you should cover almost all the vbs around.

But in extreme cases, (the guy really wants it), your bot itself could be blocked/redirected. Then you would need to use proxies, multiple servers and so on, (or Google cache).


All this only if your mod is going to change life on forums and is going to cost a few hundred $$$ :)

Make sense. Even vB itself does not seem to take such drastic actions.

FFMG

[joeychgo]

Make sense. Even vB itself does not seem to take such drastic actions.

FFMG


No - they dont. The license key is all thats necessary.

[T0PS3O]

I don't plan to leave any footprints I can detect it by, other than what the admin sees (unspiderable).

Phoning home feels like spyware almost.

I'll just make it cheap. Thanks for the branstorming guys!

[joeychgo]

Phoning home feels like spyware almost.




Many people complained about vBSEO for this same reason --

[Janissary]

I don't believe in vBSEO... its not worth it....

[joeychgo]

I don't believe in vBSEO... its not worth it....


oh - lets not start THAT fight. LOL - Im so tired of telling people not to waste their money -

[jward]

vBSEO retrieves a license key from the server on new installs. You can also request your key via a support ticket if required.

By the way, here's an example of why our customers know vBSEO is such an integral part of their forum's success:
http://www.vbseo.com/content/testimonials/

Warning: PG-13 :)