Should I wait for vBulletin 5 relase to buy vBulletin

[Mark.B]

6 months before the vB4 presale, pricing info and license terms were leaked. Then we were told "All of that info was preliminary and under revision". The presale hit, and everything we saw in the leak was implemented verbatim.

So while I have no way to prove it, I'm fairly certain that in a hidden subforum, the price and terms of vB5 have been laid out in draft form.

I'm sure that's right, and rightly so. it's not likely that a decision on pricing would be made on the day it was announced, there will be people in the company who know pretty much how it's going to be. There just hasn't been an announcement yet.

The vB4 scenario, as you say, was blurred by the leak. these announcements should be done when the company deem it commercially appropriate. All companies do this, it only becomes a problem if that company is also "ripping its customers off" or being otherwise disingenuous. That isn't happening here.

[hornstar6969]

It would suck tho if you buy vb4 now (or when ever you do) and then vb5 comes out shortly after as a solid really good product, and you get no access to it, and have to pay the full upgrade fee. I suppose this is why people are uncertain if they should buy now or wait.

4.2 is a much better product than 4.0 was (as long as you aren't expecting a lot from the cms) IF you will be happy having that product in the state it is, than buy now, but who knows how much you will have to fork out when vb5 comes.

[beishe8]

Time for me to get my arse into gear and build a community

Good luck with that.
Go Aussie,Go!!!

[Ramsesx]

It would suck tho if you buy vb4 now (or when ever you do) and then vb5 comes out shortly after as a solid really good product, and you get no access to it, and have to pay the full upgrade fee. I suppose this is why people are uncertain if they should buy now or wait.

Do you really expect a solid product right after the release? By all logic and experience of the past I expect a solid vB 5 in not less than one year.

[Merjawy]

I do think and upgrade to a newer release should take time in mind.. If a customer buys a license for 4 and the next day or week or even a month 5 is released, they shouldn't be paying the same upgrade price as someone who did a year ago or more!!!
Maybe even free upgrade should be an option when the time to too close... That's just being fair and many will go ahead and buy current release without having to wait months for a newer release.

I have faced this issue when I let one of my vB3 licenses expire right before the release of 4.

[Mark.B]

My view on all major upgrades of this nature, has always been the same.

Until the new version comes out, buy the old version, don't hold off unless it's literally a week or two away.

Once the new version is out, if you are starting a NEW forum, use the new version.
If you already have an existing forum, take your time, don't rush into the upgrade, there is no need. Particularly if your site is modified as the mods all need reworking. Don't put your existing community at risk by rushing into changes.

If there's a good deal to be had on buying the licence upgrade, take it, you can carry on running your existing version until you're ready. Historically every new licence has permitted running older versions instead, I think it's safe to say that won't change.

[MRGTB]

It would suck tho if you buy vb4 now (or when ever you do) and then vb5 comes out shortly after as a solid really good product, and you get no access to it, and have to pay the full upgrade fee.

It should balance itself out really cost wise, you'd shouldn't be any worse off buying a vB4 licence and upgrading it later to vB5. Than you would be waiting and buying a vB5 licence outright instead.

[steven s]

Should I wait for vBulletin 5 release to buy the software or it does not matter?

I haven't read the entire thread.
But... Base your decision on what is available now. Not something in the future.
Besides, there will be sometime between beta and the public release.
Who really knows what vB5 will look like? What features?
If you want to use vB4, purchase a license. You will be paying again for vB5.
If you want to start a community and don't want to pay twice, I'd suggest a free forum package and hope there is an importer.
You will be paying twice. It's just a matter of how much.

[Mark.B]

If you want to start a community and don't want to pay twice, I'd suggest a free forum package and hope there is an importer.

No! Don't ever go down that road unless it's absolutely unavoidable.

It is unlikely that an IMPEX importer will be ready immediately on vB5's release. Even when it is, you then lose all the search engine rankings you have gained because all your old URLS will fail without complex rewriting rules.

Also depending on the free package you can sometimes find that passwords don't import, meaning your entire userbase need to have password resets.

In short, don't do it. Cheaper to just buy vB4.

[Loco.M]

If it were me and I was starting a brand new forum and interested in vBulletin, this is what I would do.
Start your forum on a free script like phpbb, mybb or smf, then when vBulletin 5 is released purchase the script and import your forums to vBulletin.

If I already had a vbulletin 3.x forum running, I would hold off on buying vBulletin 4 and wait for vBulletin 5, but it will most likely be a few to several months before it's available.

In short, don't do it. Cheaper to just buy vB4.

I disagree... what do you have to lose, you can start building your forums now and chances are that a new forum isn't going to have a lot of members for the first few months anyways if you're really worried about passwords.

I don't see how spending 150$ twice is any cheaper then spending it once..lol

[MRGTB]

If it were me and I was starting a brand new forum and interested in vBulletin, this is what I would do.
Start your forum on a free script like phpbb, mybb or smf, then when vBulletin 5 is released purchase the script and import your forums to vBulletin.

If I already had a vbulletin 3.x forum running, I would hold off on buying vBulletin 4 and wait for vBulletin 5, but it will most likely be a few to several months before it's available.



I disagree... what do you have to lose, you can start building your forums now and chances are that a new forum isn't going to have a lot of members for the first few months anyways if you're really worried about passwords.

I don't see how spending 150$ twice is any cheaper then spending it once..lol

You wouldn't spend £150 twice, there will be a cheaper option to upgrade your vB4 licence to vB5 later (£150 + cheaper upgrade fee to vB5). The more expensive option will be to buy vB5 from fresh, no upgrade discount. Meaning both ways, no matter which you take should really more or less balance out the same.

The way you're putting it. You'll pay £150 to buy vB4 and £150 to upgrade to vB5 later (£300). While new users buy vB5 for £150. Na, it won't work that way, there would be a riot if it did.

[selfsufficientme]

Good luck with that.
Go Aussie,Go!!!

Thanks mate I hope I have more luck than our cricketers at the moment!

[socceronly]

It really doesn't matter which vB5 scenario is true.

If it is imminent and good, there will likely be a reasonable upgrade fee for people who just bought 4. This is a reasonable assumption.
If it is far away from being ready, released or not, then you want to start on 4 now.

[Mark.B]

It really doesn't matter which vB5 scenario is true.

If it is imminent and good, there will likely be a reasonable upgrade fee for people who just bought 4. This is a reasonable assumption.
If it is far away from being ready, released or not, then you want to start on 4 now.

The team have said it's not imminent. The only definite info is that it is aimed for release by the end of the year, but even that could slip.

In the meantime my advice is the same - buy vB4 at this stage.

[MRGTB]

It makes sense if you're in a rush to start a forum now, rather than hang on until vB5 is here. Then start with vBulletin 4 to avoid the headache of trying to convert another brand of forum software over to vB5 later. You'll get a discount anyway most likely to move from vB4 to vB5. So it makes no sense to go FREE forum software using a another brand that will only complicate things for you later.