Question concerning members area access

[nirmah]

I could only find that my question is suitable in this forum after looking at the descriptions.

So, it's not much of a pre-sales question as I am an owner of two owned vB licenses. I have enjoyed using the software very much and am planning on keeping them. Maybe getting more if I get cash in the future! :)

But my question is for example, let's say that a license is expiring on May 1st, 2004. (Mine expires later but anyways) And this is an owned license.

Will the owner of this license still be able to access members area and download vBulletin (Not the latest but those that s/he could get before it expired) or after the date, May 1st, you can still use vBulletin, but you can't access members area making you not be able to download vBulletin anymore hoping you will have it in your harddrive for the lifetime. Long sentence but hope it made sense. :D

Thanks.

[SpeedStreet]

I could only find that my question is suitable in this forum after looking at the descriptions.

So, it's not much of a pre-sales question as I am an owner of two owned vB licenses. I have enjoyed using the software very much and am planning on keeping them. Maybe getting more if I get cash in the future! :)

But my question is for example, let's say that a license is expiring on May 1st, 2004. (Mine expires later but anyways) And this is an owned license.

Will the owner of this license still be able to access members area and download vBulletin (Not the latest but those that s/he could get before it expired) or after the date, May 1st, you can still use vBulletin, but you can't access members area making you not be able to download vBulletin anymore hoping you will have it in your harddrive for the lifetime. Long sentence but hope it made sense. :D

Thanks.
To my knowledge, no. The User Support agreement (paid every year) enables access to redownload an existing copy of vBulletin, as well as any upgrades to the software. Wehn you let your support agreement lapse, you no longer have access to that section.

That being said, I am not clear as to how much it is to reactivate your support agreement if you let it lapse.

[Wayne Luke]

A little clarification... You are not purchasing a support agreement. Support is included in the price of the product. You are purchasing upgrade or download privileges after the first year. If you let it lapse you cannot download any vBulletin packages but you can still access the member's area to purchase additional licenses at discount, renew download, request support and other services that are or will be provided there.

Currently it is $30.00 per year to download new versions after your first year. We do however reserve the right to change this at any time.

[nirmah]

So after a year when your owned license expires, you can still run vB, but cannot download it anymore? Like you can't download the versions that you could download before your license expired? So in the end, you'd need a copy of vB on your hard drive right?

[ManagerJosh]

Let's say you bought a license today, March 26.

From March 26, 2004 to March 26, 2005, you have the rights to download vBulletin as many times as you want to and are entitled to all upgrades within that period.

You can still access the members area thereafter to purchase renewals to download and or additional features like branding free.

And yes, in the end you need a copy of vB on your harddrive.

[RichM]

Currently it is $30.00 per year to download new versions after your first year. We do however reserve the right to change this at any time.I think he is hinting something there. ;)

[Steve Machol]

Not really. Given people'e tendencies we don't want someone in the year 2020 bringing an old thread saying that we promised them renewal would only cost $30. ;)

[nirmah]

I think it'd be a good idea to let expired owned licenses to be able to download the version that they were able to download when the license did not expire. Example...

Let's say McDonald bought a license on March 27, 2004. An owned one.

He can get access to vBulletin 2.3.5 and vBulletin 3 Gold.

But the license expired March 27, 2005 and vBulletin released vBulletin 3.1 on April 20, 2005.

McDonald can still download 2.3.5 and vBulletin 3 Gold, but cannot download 3.1.


Could this be an option in the future maybe?

[Floris]

Everything can be an option in the future, but it is not an option right now. However, if the latest stable release is 3.1, older versions are no longer supported, changes are they will be removed from the download area (which is probably the biggest reason why the license doens't work like suggested).

[Wayne Luke]

Everything can be an option in the future, but it is not an option right now. However, if the latest stable release is 3.1, older versions are no longer supported, changes are they will be removed from the download area (which is probably the biggest reason why the license doens't work like suggested).
Older versions are not supported if a bug or security isue cannot be fixed with a simple patch to that older version. We still do provide support to some older versions. Beta versions are no longer supported when they are superceded however.

Currently we support 2.3.X and 3.0. However, a customer should not be surprised if the solution to their problem is a recommended upgrade to the newer version.

[catocom]

Currently it is $30.00 per year to download new versions after your first year. We do however reserve the right to change this at any time.

So if a person say wanted to buy 5 more years of support @ $30 a shot,
being $150, then if the price changes within that time would that
reflect back on the already acquired support license?

If not, maybe I'd better stock-up now. :D