Own or Lease.. pros and cons?

[luism]

Hi all:
I am thinking of acquiring vbulletin and am not sure if to own or lease.

What are the pros/cons of each?

Would I get the 4.0 upgrade with either?

Any advice would greatly help..

Thanks

-Luis

[poolking]

Leased is ideal if your budget is limited, also it gives you a chance to see if your forum is going to be successful.

[feldon23]

Leasing will be eliminated with vB4.

[disenioweb]

Leasing will be eliminated with vB4.

Where have you read this ?

[feldon23]

On the Interwebs.

[hosting-talk]

I am thinking of acquiring vbulletin and am not sure if to own or lease.

Wait. Right now is NOT the time to be buying (or leasing) a new license. Wait until IB gets off their tail ends and releases some sort of an announcement to the fire that's been started.

Would I get the 4.0 upgrade with either?

According to publicly available information, no.


Leased licenses have been planned to be removed, and existing customers will have to upgrade, again according to publicly available information.

We just have to wait and see how IB/Jelsoft actually respond, if they choose to do so.

[Kamrul]

it is better you may wait untill..new release.

[Baba Wawa]

it is better you may wait untill..new release.

Or at least until official announcement of new policies.

[Shamil.]

May I just remind you all that a snapshot of something was revealed, and should not be released to the customer or any potential customers - purely becuase none of the information leaked has been verified to be correct or set. Ray Morgan, project manager, has stated that nothing has been properly set in concrete.

If you do buy the license now, and then policy changes, I am more than sure that you will be presented with a set of feasible options.

But back to the topic.


Pros of Owned License:

• License is bought by you, and is perpetual;
• License to use software does not expire, however, the availability of software releases/updates to you are restricted by the availability of license;
• Only one, single payment is required;
• Can be sold off to third party (transfer of license, terms apply).

Cons of Owned License:

• Can be costly, depending on situation.

Pros of Leased License:

• Payment for license is spread across months;
• Subscription can be cancelled at any time;
• You pay a fixed subscription fee, monthly (can be con as well).

Cons of Leased License:

• Can be costly depending on your future plans;
• You cannot sell/transfer license out to third party.

The decision to go with an owned or leased license is up to you though. If you think that your project is long-term, then I suggest that you go with a owned license. If the project is short-term, then go with the leased license. Ultimately, it is for you to do the maths, then make a good judgement of which one is more suitable for you.

I hope that this post has helped you in deciding, and choosing vBulletin.

[harmor]

The decision to go with an owned or leased license is up to you though. If you think that your project is long-term, then I suggest that you go with a owned license. If the project is short-term, then go with the leased license. Ultimately, it is for you to do the maths, then make a good judgement of which one is more suitable for you.

I hope that this post has helped you in deciding, and choosing vBulletin.

I rather buy an Owned license no matter if I intend to use it short term or long term. The reason why is because I don't have to pay any fees to continue using it after the license expires.

[Wayne Luke]

For the last 9 years, I have only recommended that customers purchase the Owned License. In the long term, the Leased License is more costly, harder to manage and more likely to have licensing issues without prompt renewal. Add to this the fact that the Owned License is transferrable should your project become really successful and you want to profit by selling the site. Or if the worst happens and your project fails and you want to recoup some of your investment by selling off the license.

The only license really worth buying is the Owned License. That has been my answer for nine years now.

[hosting-talk]

the Leased License is more costly, harder to manage and more likely to have licensing issues without prompt renewal.

Explain the harder to manage part? I've never had a problem managing my leased licenses, it's done the same way an owned license is, no?

As far as transferring, you have a point there, but then the initial investment is higher for a failed project as well, so it's a catch 22

[Wayne Luke]

Harder to manage in order to keep the license up to date. Technically if you run a leased license for 1 day past its expiration date, you are breaking international copyright laws as you no longer have a license to use the software. On your part, this can mean a total loss of your forums if they are shut down. On our part it leads to a costly expense to enforce which only continues to drive prices up.

[Steve Machol]

Explain the harder to manage part? I've never had a problem managing my leased licenses, it's done the same way an owned license is, no?

I think he may be referring to the fact that a large number of leased customers continue running vBulletin after the lease expires - even though we contact then well ahead of time. Unfortunately when these sites get reported on the piracy form this can cause a number of issues, including having a site shut-down. Consequently even though the fault is not with us, we are the ones that get blamed and attacked when this happens. Believe me that does create problems that we would like to avoid.

[hosting-talk]

I honestly don't think I'd call that harder to manage for the customer, but harder to manage for you, maybe. In fact, I can picture that easily being harder to manage for IB/Jelsoft, but that's part of the cost of doing business no?

Typically, when a leased license expires, if I've no desire to renew it, I'll just .htaccess off the page until the time comes to renew it. The site still exists, and it's a 30 second .htaccess hack, so I'm not sure there.

Keeping an eye on dates though has to be done for both, no? I mean, you've got to keep an eye on dates (currently) for owned license in order to get upgrades, and all that.

Like I said, it's a catch 22. There's pros to both sides, the most obvious one to leased being that it's cheaper, and you can (historically) renew at the difference within 2 months.