History of vBulletin

[k1ll3rdr4g0n]

Someone wanna tell me some history of vBulletin, like how it was started original people who made it ect. I emailed [email protected] and they told to me ask about this here. So Im here asking it .

[Colin F]

vBulletin was built as a replacement for the flatfile based UBB around 4-5 years ago. It was originally started by John Percival and James Limm for their site, vbworld.
Since then it has evolved to what you see now, with staff coming and going and the software getting better and better

Feel free to ask any specific questions you may have.

[k1ll3rdr4g0n]

So vBulletin started in 2000?
How old were the original creators when they started it?
Do they have any plans to make it zend encoded (or any type of encoding)?
Do they plan to have a lite free version?

[Reeve of Shinra]

A long long time ago, in a mythical world of magic, the evil dragon IcingDeath took over the fabled Mithril Halls and drove the Dwarven clan into exile..... seeking to stay in touch with thier brethren who left for many far and distant lands, they built a system with the help of some wizards which eventually came to be known as vbulletin....

Or you could read Colin's post for the right answer.

[Reeve of Shinra]

Do they have any plans to make it zend encoded (or any type of encoding)?
Do they plan to have a lite free version?

Originally, Vbulletin had a 'lite' version which wasn't free but was for trail purposes. It was like a cross breed of vb1 and vb2 from what I recall. Today that was replaced by the admincp demo and of course, the user end can be sampled here.

There was a good discussion about zend encoding but while there isn't an official answer (I think), the comments seemed to suggest that there wouldn't be as the community here was largely not in favor of it.

[k1ll3rdr4g0n]

@Reeve of Shinra
Oh, so thats how bulletin boards are born. Always wondered about that

I wonder what the very first version of vBulletin looked like :P.

[Colin F]

Looking at the first thread in the announcements forum, yes. The first lines were written in February 2000.
I don't know how old John or James were at the time, sorry.

[Scott MacVicar]

The start of the code was done late in 1999 as far as i know by John.

We have a Zend Encoder license and there are plans to produce a evaluation version at some point in the future.

[Colin F]

21 February 2000, actually

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9311

[Scott MacVicar]

I must have been ignoring John when it was brought up in conversation, probably more interested in the food or drink :P

[Mr_Butter]

first thread in the announcements forum

woah.




And he is still staff? I've never....ever seen him!

[Colin F]

I can imagine

[Colin F]

John is still working, allthough he hasn't been very active in the public forums for a while. I actually saw him browsing here today.

[_| () R | Z]

he actually made a post in the bugtracker today: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/bugs3...iew&bugid=1025

[Mr_Butter]

OMGZORZ

lol