is this a rip of vB?

[blackspider99]

Past forum post I found:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68814&highlight=mybboard


Today is downloadable: http://www.mybboard.com/downloads.html

I got a copy of mybboard installed and began browsing the admin panel and it looks a lot like vB's admin panel but things moved around a bit.

Can someone please examine the code and tell me if its just a rip of a older vB release? Cause right now I'm exploring which forum system to use and have been keeping an eye on that project for a while and the file name and functions in the admin panel look alike.

Thanks
Spider

[marcgo15]

I downloaded that today but have not installed it yet. But yes i is JUST like vB. If you look you see that things are diffrent tho.

[marcgo15]

There is something called Openbboards and it has a vB look as well http://forums.openbb.com/index.php but its very crappy (i downloaded it ;) )

[HUNTER|UF]

a few changed templates and thats what you get.

[Marco]

Tsk... their site seems to be a carbon copy of IPB's site, too. *shakes head*

[Floris]

Their previous build contained vb source code, I think it was taken down from their site for that reason? Or was that another bb?

[Zachery]

actually it might have been Floris i though mybb was futher along in development

[Slynderdale]

Theres already another thread about this here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68814&highlight=mybBoard

[Slynderdale]

It looks about as close to vBulletin 3.0 as the current phpBB and Invision Board do.

It has a few similar features like quick reply but there is not even a standard toolbar for editing posts, let alone a WYWISG editor. The Member's List and Calendar are no where near as close. There is no indication of sub-forums. There is a lot more that is missing.

I think any similarities are superficial.
Personally, if it's not a rip of vbulletin. I don't mind at all if they look similar. It gives vBulletin some competition. Normally competition in software leads the developers to think of new ideas, features and improvments.

Even though they look similar, I'll stick with vbulletin, I installed the board and tried it out and personally I like vb better. It has more features and in my opinion, runs a little better and esier on the server MySQL wise.

[marcgo15]

It shows vBulletin is good when you have people make forum systems that look just like it.

[Brad.loo]

I have the build they had up before this one, it was a blantant rip php and html. I just tried downloading their rc 1 release but it kept timing out on me.

[Delroy]

Personally, if it's not a rip of vbulletin. I don't mind at all if they look similar. It gives vBulletin some competition. Normally competition in software leads the developers to think of new ideas, features and improvments.

That isn't competition.
Competition is when you can create your own unique product for a market.
That looks like a complete copyright violation.

Those guys need to be reported to the Better Business Bureau.

Notting compares to Vbulletin.
Absolutly Notting!

[Shining Arcanine]

There may have been some copying.

[Delroy]

There may have been some copying.
It's really not that hard to see.
There has got to be some way to hide a pattern into the vb code that only the team and admins know about. This I feel is the best way to confirm that it was stolen.

[3MZ]

Actually, it doesn't look very much like vB at all. Except that it has forums, categories, topics/threads and members.

In this way, we can easily say that vB is a rip off of ikonBoard or UBB, which came first. What about that?

[Beorn]

Actually, it doesn't look very much like vB at all. Except that it has forums, categories, topics/threads and members.

In this way, we can easily say that vB is a rip off of ikonBoard or UBB, which came first. What about that?
If you take a look at the code of both vB and myBB, you'll see that they're nearly the same functional code, with names and formats changed. Take a look at get permissions:


// vB
function getpermissions($forumid=0,$userid=-1,$usergroupid=-1,$parentlist="") {
// gets permissions, depending on given userid and forumid
global $DB_site, $usercache, $bbuserinfo, $enableaccess;
static $permscache, $usergroupcache;

$userid=intval($userid);
if ($userid==-1) {
$userid=$bbuserinfo['userid'];
$usergroupid=$bbuserinfo['usergroupid'];
}


// myBB
function getpermissions($fid=0, $uid=0, $gid="", $parentslist="") {

global $db, $mybb, $mybbuser, $usercache, $permscache, $usergroups;

$uid = (!$uid) ? $mybb[uid] : $uid;
if(!$gid) {
if($uid == 0) {
$gid = 1;
//...


... Or getforumrules:

// vB
function getforumrules($foruminfo,$permissions) {
// array of foruminfo and permissions for this forum
global $offtext,$ontext,$forumrules,$session;
$bbcodeon=iif($foruminfo['allowbbcode'],$ontext,$offtext);
//...



// myBB
function getforumrules($foruminfo, $permissions) {
global $settings, $theme, $templates;
$bbcodeonoff = $settings[(($foruminfo[bbcode]=="off")?'offtext':'ontext')];


Most of the code has a different structure. But somewhere around 95% of the code functionally is exactly the same. A lot of the function names are the same.

There are parts from calendar.php:

// vB
if (empty($year)) {
$year= date("Y");
}


// myBB
if(!$year) {
$year = date("Y");
}


Too much is too similar for myBB to be derived from anything but vB.

[Bema Jinn]

Look around more, regular vB user will notice that almost everything is the same, just moved around a little.

[Delroy]

Look around more, regular vB user will notice that almost everything is the same, just moved around a little.
The only thing that I see different is the name.

[filburt1]

Comparing three-line snippets is useless. Unless a very large number of nearly sequential lines of code are nearly identical, they're different.

[3MZ]

If you take a look at the code of both vB and myBB, you'll see that they're nearly the same functional code, with names and formats changed. Take a look at get permissions:


// vB
function getpermissions($forumid=0,$userid=-1,$usergroupid=-1,$parentlist="") {
// gets permissions, depending on given userid and forumid
global $DB_site, $usercache, $bbuserinfo, $enableaccess;
static $permscache, $usergroupcache;

$userid=intval($userid);
if ($userid==-1) {
$userid=$bbuserinfo['userid'];
$usergroupid=$bbuserinfo['usergroupid'];
}


// myBB
function getpermissions($fid=0, $uid=0, $gid="", $parentslist="") {

global $db, $mybb, $mybbuser, $usercache, $permscache, $usergroups;

$uid = (!$uid) ? $mybb[uid] : $uid;
if(!$gid) {
if($uid == 0) {
$gid = 1;
//...


... Or getforumrules:

// vB
function getforumrules($foruminfo,$permissions) {
// array of foruminfo and permissions for this forum
global $offtext,$ontext,$forumrules,$session;
$bbcodeon=iif($foruminfo['allowbbcode'],$ontext,$offtext);
//...



// myBB
function getforumrules($foruminfo, $permissions) {
global $settings, $theme, $templates;
$bbcodeonoff = $settings[(($foruminfo[bbcode]=="off")?'offtext':'ontext')];


Most of the code has a different structure. But somewhere around 95% of the code functionally is exactly the same. A lot of the function names are the same.

There are parts from calendar.php:

// vB
if (empty($year)) {
$year= date("Y");
}


// myBB
if(!$year) {
$year = date("Y");
}


Too much is too similar for myBB to be derived from anything but vB.
Interesting... I was talking about the looks, and as far as that is concerned, it doesn't 'look' much like vB.

But inside, it does take inspiration from vB.

[tgillespie]

Whether or not the company is being legal or not, its pretty sad that they have to rip off another company to create their product. I guess its a little like the Advil vs. equate battle. Its not exactly the same, so therefor its not exactly illegal.

[Bema Jinn]

I'd like to see a vB dev have a few words on this?

[Steve Machol]

I'd like to see a vB dev have a few words on this?You'd rather have them stop work on vB3 to comment? Why?

We are aware of this issue and will do whatever is necessary to protect our intellectual property. Further public comments are not necessary.

[okrogius]

Whether or not the company is being legal or not, its pretty sad that they have to rip off another company to create their product. I guess its a little like the Advil vs. equate battle. Its not exactly the same, so therefor its not exactly illegal.
Sorry, but two snippets mean absolutely nothing. After all vb must've ripped off php.net - they use the echo statement numerous times!

[Gio Takahashi]

geez, the entire website reminds me of vB as well. This definitely looks like a rip off of vB. Who cares about it anyway.

[tgillespie]

Sorry, but two snippets mean absolutely nothing. After all vb must've ripped off php.net - they use the echo statement numerous times!I am not just refering to the actual code, but rather the templates, the features, and the entire company. One would have to have his head up his arse to not see this. It is a rip off.

[Bema Jinn]

You'd rather have them stop work on vB3 to comment? Why?

We are aware of this issue and will do whatever is necessary to protect our intellectual property. Further public comments are not necessary.Oh, well i'm sorry, i was only curious as to whether this had been drawn to your attention. Maybe next time i'll not bother bringing piracy and copyright infringement to your attention.

[Shadow Duelist]

I don't see why you people care if it is the same or not.., The way I see it, Only the vB Dev's should care about this..

[filburt1]

I don't see why you people care if it is the same or not.., The way I see it, Only the vB Dev's should care about this..
To play Devil's Advocate, end vB users should care, too, because others are getting the same product for a different price.

But still, let the laywers settle it.

[Shadow Duelist]

LOL, If myBB goes like at myBB 2.0.0. Gawd, vB will start loosing users.. Alot.. Becasue there will be like a vB-For-Free... :eek: :eek:

[lange]

Look around more, regular vB user will notice that almost everything is the same, just moved around a little.
I agree.

[3MZ]

I don't really think many vB users would be convinced to convert to myBB. It just won't happen.

[Shadow Duelist]

meh..

[Slynderdale]

I think this thread should be closed or perferably, deleted. The vB developers already know about this and there is no need to keep posting about it.

All this thread is doing is giving mybb more coverage and popularity. If you think their forum is a rip off, why keep posting? All this is doing is making more people go to there site and get there software and so on.

Also the only thing I see that resembles vB is the templates. Most of the PHP code is alot different from vB. Now lets think about this, some one posted code above that looks similar to vB. If someone were to script something from scratch, this isnt many ways to go by it. Like if you were ask to code a function to return some text if something is true? How many possibilities can there be? Not alot. The code might look the same, but this is because there isn't alot of possible ways to code the same features.

I don't think its illegal to borrow features from other software. Phpbb and invision board and other software do it all the time. I looked over the code, I havn't seen exact matches of vB code in it. Yes I believe the templates look similar to vB, but look at the newest beta versions of php and invision board, alot of there styles and templates are becoming really similar now. It's a neat and compact style, its not crowed by to much clutter so other software is adapting to this look.

In my opinion, I'll stick with vB. There is less queries per page, more features and optomiztions currently then mybb. Also I installed both forums and I'd say that overall, vB loads faster and slightly esier on the database on alot of page loads then mybb.