Will VB ever be challenged?

You may differ in opinion but my take is that VB is the market leader in Forum Software.
Ok so there are others, some pretty major players, but no one has yet really put up a real challenge to VB. Will it ever happen? Or is it that there is one waiting in the wings now?

 

It already is challenged. IMO it's one of the worst forum software.

 

Can you qualify that?

 

Invision Power Board is the best IMHO.

 

I can.

VB is a resource hog with features well beyond what's needed for a forum. They are now branching heavily into social software instead. I personally don't need all those settings and mass-confusion in the admincp only so they can announce a new updated. Updating VB itself is a total pain in the arse and they seem to do updates rather regularly. The updates are just more fluff on top of fluff. God help you if you have a custom skin in all this. Why do you think DP has the dullest skin around? It's just color changes. Even Shawn knows messing deep with VB only gives you headaches.

VB has lost its focus on being a great forum software.

 

A very well written opinion, some of which I have to say i agree with.


Rep left

 

I personally like IPB better, I don't see why people prefer VB. The Admin CP is so much nicer in IPB, and IPB has a cleaner look to it.

 

IPB 3 will be a huge rival for VB judging by the features I have read that are coming up. The only thing I prefer about VB is the way it makes it easier to install add-on's and such. But the new version of IPB looks like it's going to address this anyway

 

I think vB is a decent software - although, there's also free forum platforms that do pretty much anything that vB does. It is all a matter of personal taste, some prefer phpBB, some vB. Trying out many forum platforms, and then deciding which one to use is probably the best idea.

- Meti

 

There are several factors that will define if another forum software can over take VB as the industry leader. Some of these factors are support, modifications and flexibility.

No free forum software will over take VB as a commercial industry leader. One of the reasons is support. If a company forum is down, it looks bad on the company. Instead of asking for help on some support forum, a lot of big companies are willing to pay the price for phone support from VB. Does smf, mybb or phpbb offer phone support? The support options for free forums are limited, so their roll in the commercial / enterprise market will always be limited.

Example - On july 29th a security flaw was reported to the developers of SMF. The flaw was confirmed in a forum thread, but the front page of smf did not mention anything about it. Nor was a email broadcast to the members of the SMF community. On the other hand, when a security flaw is found in VB, something will usually be posted about it on the home page, or the information section of the VB forum, or even broadcast out to everyone with a VB license.

These two forum software - VB and SMF take a totally opposite view and course of action when a security flaw is found. You take your pick which one you want to follow.

Modifications are also an important consideration. Not only do they help a community stand out they add extra options to the forum experience. One example I like to use, for about 6 months I was a member of the joomla community. During this time not a single modification was pulled from the downloads section because of a security issue. No security bulletins were issued to registered members when a security hole was found. It was quietly sweep under the rug.

On the other hand, I have received emails from Vbulletin.org notifying me that a certain modification was pulled because a security hole was found in it.

With version 3.7, VB entered into the social network market. With these features VB is much more then a forum, it can be a social meeting place. Members can have their own picture gallery, social groups, modified profiles, profile comments and the list goes on and on.

From a website owners point of view, this also adds a way to monetize the forum. If the member wants to have a picture gallery, they have to be in the premium members group. If the member wants to create social group, they have to be in the premium members group. Not only does the social group options add an extra layer to a VB forum, it gives the owner a way to make money from premium memberships. Limiting members on a VB forum also limits server load. This is counterbalanced by - those that pay the bills also cause most of the server load.

A lot of the modifications for VB are based on usergroup permissions. If the owner of the site wants to make a certain options open only to premium members, they can.

It is because of these options, and much, much more (I am tired of typing) that VBulletin will in no time soon, be over thrown as an industry leader.

 

Agree with RectangleMan.

For what I need to use it for it is heavily bogged down and unless you have a decent server any good amount of traffic will take it's tole.

I much prefer something like phpBB where I can just install some mods for things I need.

Cheers

 

Yea its challenged by IPB its not that its a monopoly like google

 

vBulletin is challenged by both opensource softwares (MyBB, phpBB, etc) and paid softwares (IPB & etc).

Just to clarify, I've used both and vBulletin 3.7+ and IPB 2.3+ and both are about the same load.
Neither are bad forum softwares, it's just a matter of preferences.

 

I already see vBulletin as behind. They're taking the "let's add everyting" approach compared to IPB's "let's add feature people will use and make it flexible"

You can still have a styled layout, but it has a lot of coding or graphics it'll mean more load. vB skins are also stored in the database...

There are other great forum like software that dares to be different. Like Japanese image boards, PunBB/FluxBB, and Vanilla.

 

LOL! sorry i have to laugh at that statement.

 

How is that funny? Feature wise, outside mod controls and the plug in system, IPB is ahead of the game.

 

and please tell me how IPB is ahead of the game? it's a joke.

 

IPB takes it in outside mod controls but definitely not the plug-in system.
The only reason I made the switch the vB.

 

More modern coding, better intergration with their products, better designed acp, etc. Not a joke.

 

I think Vb is one of the better commercial scripts. Last time I checked it was faster than IPB but slower than SMF. SMF is a bit bloated in terms of managing it though.

My personal favorite is Vanilla. That stuff kicks arrrss. It can be designed for much easier, is crazy fast, standards compliant and modular. If you don't need functionality you don't have it. There are tons of mods though so you can make it do whatever you want.

Some folks get a bit confused with it at first because it does not look like your standard forum. You can mod it to do so however. If you folks have not tried it, you should give a whirl. Very nice code.

hope that helps,
Nigel