renewing licenses/upgrades - what do I do?

[Shoonra]

I have a couple of forums I need to upgrade. I am looking for the latest stable upgrade (currently running 3.6.8).

I went to the members area and my licenses have expired during the summer. So, I go to the new interface, log in to renew and download and I can either go for the VB4 for $190 or I can't upgrade??

What if I just want to upgrade without switching over to VB4? I thought that my license, with the yearly renewals of ~$30 or so came with lifetime upgrades? why the $190 now? and why can't I just upgrade to the latest 3.*.* version? Is the new VB4 going to cost $190 a year from now on?

[Shoonra]

Ok, I see now that I can download the patches and later versions - but I still can't renew my license, right?

Also, on the download page here -

http://members.vbulletin.com/download.php?licenseid=VBFC39C509&softwareid=vbulletin

What do I select to upgrade a forum from 3.6.8 - just the 3.6.8 patch level 2 option, or the latest option - or all of them? if I choose the latest version, will that include the upgrades betwee 3.6.8 and 3.7.4?

Sorry for all the questions! Confused here.

[Sadie Frost]

Hi Shoonra

To upgrade from 3.6.8 to 3.7.4, yes, just download the latest option. That will take care of all the upgrades in between

And no, there is no option to renew licenses now, only to purchase the vb 4 Suite or vb 4 forum only, which would then allow you to download the most current version of vb 3 (3.8.4). Hope that makes sense

[Shoonra]

Thanks for the quick reply

What happens when the VB4 needs upgrades? will there be a an annual cost to that?

[Pope Viper]

No, the purchase of VB4.0 gives you access to all releases/patches for the life of the product (4.x) line. When 5 comes out, you'll have to pay again for that upgrade.

[tru]

I have a feeling vbulletin is going to run into legal issues with forcing customers to upgrade to 4.0 for a fee rather then a free upgrade which states it's a 12 month upgrade/renewal.

This is about like Ford Motor Company modifying there warranty.. (we now charge a $130 service fee even tho you have a warranty that use to cover this for free. something new we added.) What it is, is the company taking advantage of the customers. Let's sell to them and sell to them for years and offer a simple upgrade/renewal fee and then on the 4th version lets change the rules and bank off them.

Should be an interesting year for vbulletin. I don't expect the US to bail them out of this one

[Shoonra]

I guess we can just stick to the 3.X version though, if we wanted to. As long as it's stable and secure, I don't see what the problem is. Once there are un-handled security issues, then we'll see... hopefully it won't come to that.