So would it be wise up renew my license now - ($60) and get 4.0 when it comes out. Then worry about paying to renew it next year?
They aren't offering renewals any longer. If your license was expired after 4.0 started being sold, you need to purchase the upgrade to 4.0 if you want it.
Ok here's the pricing on vBulletin: For the suite: $190 if your license was within the past year. $210 if it was more than 12 months expired. $130 for active licenses $235 for new purchases Currently, there are no discounts on upgrading to the core for expired users so the pricing stands currently at: $195 for new license Free for active licenses till they expire then you'll pay the full price. Expired have no offers other than buying a new license.
Nope if 4.0 is released by that time .... then you'll get free updates till end of Vb4 version. edit: my mistake .... you'll have to pay 175$ upgrade fee.
Except when your license expires, you no longer get 4.0 updates. That's not even worth considering. We honestly have no clue how quickly they will push out 5.0. I can guarantee that it won't be in five years. I doubt it'll be much more than two years, to be honest. vB 3.x didn't have dozens of "experts" and developers working on the project; there also wasn't as much of a push for money and to commercialize the product like there is now. As such, things aren't as cheap as you perceive them to be. Things surely are a-changing over there, and nobody is realizing anything until it's too late - like a slap in the face.
A total rip off. No diff between owned and leased customers. No diff to ..... when your license expires ..... only active and inactive license are taken.
I Agree this is somewhat greedy y coz we bought the license for 160-180$ plus we paid for updates... so now if we have to pay more just to use vb 4 wats the point of that 160-180 we paid
Uh, couldn't you say that about all software? If you pay for Windows 2000, it doesn't mean you get Windows XP for free. The point of the $160 was so you could use the old version. And no, you don't have to pay to use vB4, just like you don't have to pay to use Windows XP. If it's not worth the money, don't pay and use the old version. {shrug}
But when i am paying for windows xp i dont pay for updates or support rite... whereas in vbulletin we have to pay for updates and support too..
Yeah, vBulletin is switching to that model, hence the price hikes. They're forcing you to pay for the renewal stuff whether you want to or not. It's their answer to prevent "expired licenses"
I upgraded one of my license for VB 4 suite, hoping it would be as good as the current stable version. That being said, they are greedy no doubt about it. The current pre-sale is a complete joke, Its like you are buying a car without even seeing it or test-drive it and just assuming it might be the right one for. One of the worst PR I have seen IMO. Since Internet Brands took over jelsoft , customer support has been really "low". Complains on their forum gets deleted in a flash, customers getting infracted for expressing their views and so on. Here is a case : A customer makes a purchase of leased license ($100) 10 days back to test it out and upgrade within next 60 days if all goes good hoping he would just have to pay another $100. And now under current price structure if he wishes to get a owned license, he is completely screwed. It is not like the Vbulletin Mangement Panel woke up one fine day and decided to make all the drastic changes in the pricing structure and implemented it the next day. They must have been very much aware that such changes are likely to happen. I believe they should have stopped all leased purchases way before. Very unethical business module.
The problem also is they NEVER gave any benefits to loyal customers. I have multiple owned expired licenses and I lose out. I can't renew them, unless I renew for the vB4 package. I don't want the package, I just want to renew my license. I can't do that now... Right now the customers are suffering, because most people can't fork out the extra cash. The reason everyone bought a owned license... well is because it is OWNED. They expect to get upgrades for free or with a renewal fee. No one expected this new company to come out and say..."Sorry but you have to buy a NEW license now, because we want to make more money off you... since we know vB is so popular and want to milk you as much as we can". Why else did they buy vB? they KNEW it was popular, and they found a method to maximize on their investment. They did that by putting all customers in terrible spots, where the customer is forced to take a hit. Sure, they will make some good money, but they have lost trust from many people. I felt bad, because the old developers where shocked with what IB has done with vB.
This is a complete joke... The more I find out about all this the more disappointed and less interested in upgrading to anything... Not to mention that the whole changes they are implementing look backward. If someone wanted a CMS with articles, blog posts and the lot then they'd get it. I thought vBulletin was mainly a forum? The new one is starting to look like a Joomla creation... When did Internet Brands buy vBulletin? I totally missed that....
According to this article http://mashable.com/2007/07/10/vbulletin-acquired-by-internet-brands/ it happened in 2007 Edit Yes it was in 2007 itself see http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/show...re-acquisition-news&highlight=Internet+Brands
I can already see all the complains on the vb forum to an extent of mass lawsuit {wow} this must be really bad IMO. They have lost trust and many users are looking for an alternative. It may make some quick money, but on the long run I would say a wonderful product in the hands the worst unethical company.