Considering using for client websites

[gbhedges]

Hello all,

It's been a long time since I first got vBulletin and I currently don't run it now but have become a website service provider so is considering using it again for client forum projects.

I'd like to know a few things though :

• In simple terms. What is the vBulletin Publishing Suite and what does it add to the forum ? (I understand you have a extensive feature list on the website but the one thing i can't find is a description of the difference between the two platforms)
• Can the CMS work seperately of vBulletin ?
• What makes this piece of software so different from the likes of the software that I'm using now (Joomla, WordPress) which is free and feature rich ?
• Why has the license system changed ? (i.e You can't pay yearly now)
• I'm hearing alot on the forum about bugs with vBulletin 4.0 etc, when I first came here we were on vB3 (if i remember correctly), is this something that will cause considerable problems for client websites/forums ? My workline is to just provide services for the creation of websites and getting people started (adding templates etc, modifying templates) and bug fixes are something I really don't want to worry about.

In something unrelated to pre-sales questions, can I say that the main vB website was far better looking in it's old version, I personally find the new one so difficult to use as most of the links redirect here. The old one was simple and I was able to answer all the questions i've listed above without having to post here.

Thank you for your time,
Stephen

[gbhedges]

Anyone ?

[Mike Anime]

In simple terms. What is the vBulletin Publishing Suite and what does it add to the forum ? (I understand you have a extensive feature list on the website but the one thing i can't find is a description of the difference between the two platforms) the Forum Classic is ONLY the forums. the Suite has the forum, blog, gallery and CMS in a single package
Can the CMS work seperately of vBulletin ? The CMS is part of the Suite
What makes this piece of software so different from the likes of the software that I'm using now (Joomla, WordPress) which is free and feature rich ? everything is included in the Suite package, more suooprt (maybe not better but more for sure) its more secure
Why has the license system changed ? (i.e You can't pay yearly now) you don't need to have a yearly upgrade cost you get support for 30 days with the Forum only option and the suite has lifetime support. both options give you FREE upgrades and security updates till the 4.x.x series goes EOL however you can run the 4.x.x series forever.
I'm hearing alot on the forum about bugs with vBulletin 4.0 etc, when I first came here we were on vB3 (if i remember correctly), is this something that will cause considerable problems for client websites/forums ? My workline is to just provide services for the creation of websites and getting people started (adding templates etc, modifying templates) and bug fixes are something I really don't want to worry about. I won't lie there are bugs but each release fixes MANY bugs each time 4.0.2 is great IMHO and ready for at least a medium sized site and great for a new site with less traffic

[Sador]

In simple terms. What is the vBulletin Publishing Suite and what does it add to the forum ? (I understand you have a extensive feature list on the website but the one thing i can't find is a description of the difference between the two platforms)

It ads the blog, CMS and so on, and fully integrates them with eachother.

Can the CMS work seperately of vBulletin ?

It's part of the suite.

What makes this piece of software so different from the likes of the software that I'm using now (Joomla, WordPress) which is free and feature rich ?

It's fully integrated with eachother. You can promote forumposts to blogs or CMS articles, for example. You can use the same attachments from the forum to add in blogs or CMS... or the other way around. You can also manage everything from the same admin panel and all permissions work with the vBulletin usergroup system.

Why has the license system changed ? (i.e You can't pay yearly now)

To make more money and encourage people to buy the suite.

I'm hearing alot on the forum about bugs with vBulletin 4.0 etc, when I first came here we were on vB3 (if i remember correctly), is this something that will cause considerable problems for client websites/forums ? My workline is to just provide services for the creation of websites and getting people started (adding templates etc, modifying templates) and bug fixes are something I really don't want to worry about.

Well. There are plenty of bugs, but I could say the same for Joomla and Drupal and plenty of others. They are however constantly working to fix those bugs, which is a good thing. It probably won't cause any serious problems anyway, just small things that might not work as expected. The only really bad thing right now is the style system, which makes it hard to customize your site with your own layout. But otherwise, vBulletin is fine.

I hope this helps you.