How Can VB Justify the $170 Upgrade Cost for V4

[Fergal]

Please see a copy of a post below that I posted on the official VB forums - Click here to view the thread.

Quote:

How can VB Justify the Upgrade Costs for V4? The cost to upgrade a VB owned licence from V3 to V4 is $170. When purchasing VB owned licences, I understood that they were owned lifetime licences and that the only future costs for using the software would be the annual membership fees - my best guess is that many other customers had the same understanding. In my opinion, the upgrade fee is incredible given that; Competing forum software sells new licences for around $150 I can purchase a completely new VB 4 licence for $195. Hence, I only save $25 by upgrading (195 - 170). Surely VB 3 licences are worth more than $25! How can VB possibly justify an upgrade fee of $170 per licence?

I'd be interested in members' opinions on this issue.

[cbp]

You turning into a spammer. I seen this post on a few other forums. This has been discussed to death all over the place - you a bit late with it!

[t34b4g5]

Simple if you don't like/want to pay the upgrade price then move to a different forum software either paid or free.

Vbulletin isn't forcing you to upgrade to use there new VB4, if you want to use it then you gotta pay the relevant $$$, if you dont want to pay the $$$ then move to another forum software.

[convergentmedia]

It's their business at the end of the day and even if some of their decisions suck, you have to live with it if you want the software. Everyone wants more money, they've made a decision and will have to live with the consequences if there will be any.

[kjetterman]

They can justify it because it is their company. They can justify it because vBulletin is one of the most popular in the forum software category.

As other posters have said... you have a choice. No one is being forced to upgrade. You can still use the version you are using now. Maybe the smart thing is to wait until version 4 gets further in. I really don't see a big push to upgrade all forums *right now*. I think most people will wait until 4.0 becomes stable and efficient enough for them.

[Fergal]

I don't have a problem with VB charging $195, or whatever they like for a new licence. My issue is that I understood I was buying a lifetime owned licence and now I find that I have to pay $170 for an upgrade. That's only $25 less than if I was buying a new licence.

Many VB users paid around $160 for a VB licence, on the understanding that they could use that licence for life and that they were entitled to free upgrades, provided of course that they paid their annual membership free. Now they are being asked to pay a further $170 if they want an upgrade.

VB themselves advise that forum owners should use the latest version of their forum software, for security reasons. (As do most other producers of forum software). Hence, there is pressure to upgrade if your forum is important to you and you want to keep it secure.

Switching to different forum software is not easy for many forum owners, especially if they have customised their forums and installed various Mods.

[marcgo15]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fergal I don't have a problem with VB charging $195, or whatever they like for a new licence. My issue is that I understood I was buying a lifetime owned licence and now I find that I have to pay $170 for an upgrade. That's only $25 less than if I was buying a new licence. Many VB users paid around $160 for a VB licence, on the understanding that they could use that licence for life and that they were entitled to free upgrades, provided of course that they paid their annual membership free. Now they are being asked to pay a further $170 if they want an upgrade. VB themselves advise that forum owners should use the latest version of their forum software, for security reasons. (As do most other producers of forum software). Hence, there is pressure to upgrade if your forum is important to you and you want to keep it secure. Switching to different forum software is not easy for many forum owners, especially if they have customised their forums and installed various Mods.

I have to agree with you. I can see the price change, but users under the old agreement with owned licenses shouldn't be asked to pay again once there current access expires.

[pontiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fergal Please see a copy of a post below that I posted on the official VB forums - Click here to view the thread. I'd be interested in members' opinions on this issue.

Fergal, its really not that much. If you want it, get it. If not, don't.

[NYCGuy76]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fergal I don't have a problem with VB charging $195, or whatever they like for a new licence. My issue is that I understood I was buying a lifetime owned licence and now I find that I have to pay $170 for an upgrade. That's only $25 less than if I was buying a new licence. Many VB users paid around $160 for a VB licence, on the understanding that they could use that licence for life and that they were entitled to free upgrades, provided of course that they paid their annual membership free. Now they are being asked to pay a further $170 if they want an upgrade. VB themselves advise that forum owners should use the latest version of their forum software, for security reasons. (As do most other producers of forum software). Hence, there is pressure to upgrade if your forum is important to you and you want to keep it secure. Switching to different forum software is not easy for many forum owners, especially if they have customised their forums and installed various Mods.

I definately agree with this. Old users such as myself should not need to pay that price but as the other posters stated they can do what they wish with their product and if we dont like it switch to another.

On a side note I don't think the new vb is worth that kind of money to begin with but thats is just my opinion.

[BSMedia]

They can chage whatever they want.

Personally, I don't think vB4 is worth more than the old vB3 since its basically the same thing with just a CMS added on, had the alpha/beta program been open to everyone, I never would have renewed my license for vB4, but thats life sometimes.

[gogoblender]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fergal I don't have a problem with VB charging $195, or whatever they like for a new licence. My issue is that I understood I was buying a lifetime owned licence and now I find that I have to pay $170 for an upgrade. That's only $25 less than if I was buying a new licence. Many VB users paid around $160 for a VB licence, on the understanding that they could use that licence for life and that they were entitled to free upgrades, provided of course that they paid their annual membership free. Now they are being asked to pay a further $170 if they want an upgrade. VB themselves advise that forum owners should use the latest version of their forum software, for security reasons. (As do most other producers of forum software). Hence, there is pressure to upgrade if your forum is important to you and you want to keep it secure. Switching to different forum software is not easy for many forum owners, especially if they have customised their forums and installed various Mods.

This is crap. You have my sentiments regarding your position on this. We have a lifetime license with IPB, and so far the "support fees" have been reasonable.

I haven't heard about anything like this till now, and I'm worried that other forum softwaree companies (namely my own! ) may attempt some creative pricing like this as well. I do find the fees that they are attemping to charge you much too expensive. I would be as angry as you are.



gogo

[kjetterman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gogoblender This is crap. You have my sentiments regarding your position on this. We have a lifetime license with IPB, and so far the "support fees" have been reasonable. I haven't heard about anything like this till now, and I'm worried that other forum softwaree companies (namely my own! ) may attempt some creative pricing like this as well. I do find the fees that they are attemping to charge you much too expensive. I would be as angry as you are. gogo

I really doubt IPB will try something like this. They have heard the outcry from vB customers because of this and I believe have gained a lot of business in the meantime that they would not have otherwise gained. They know that their success lies in consistency.

I wasn't that mad about the price hike but only because I have 1 license with vB. So as far as I am concerned, they are expendable to me. I will probably buy another IPB license as I have been so impressed with their product. However, the same cannot be said for vB. It's too expensive now to maintain just the 1 license.

[Rockatteer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by t34b4g5 Simple if you don't like/want to pay the upgrade price then move to a different forum software either paid or free. Vbulletin isn't forcing you to upgrade to use there new VB4, if you want to use it then you gotta pay the relevant $$$, if you dont want to pay the $$$ then move to another forum software.

I think that's an incredibly ignorant statement to make.

You can't just change software. You need to convert the database without losing anything, recreate your skins, find equivalent mods and install them, go through and re-do any subtle changes you had such as rewording of various messages and menus and for a lot of admins that means a lot of changes and a lot of time needed to do it all.

Quote:

How can VB possibly justify an upgrade fee of $170 per licence?

Simple. It's not really an upgrade. It's a new package/product. In the same way that Windows 7 isn't an upgrade of windows Vista. Windows XP and Vista both provide free "upgrades" in the form of patches etc, but if you want the new Windows 7 you have to buy it. As a new product they can present it at the current market rate for forum software.

Security-wise VB should be providing security updates for their current versions, so if they are following this industry standard, there's really no reason to buy the new version 4 at the moment.

You should probably read the fine print of your contract with them to see exactly how they define an upgrade. If they talk about all future versions then you might have found a chink in their armor.

[smirkley]

I justified it for several reasons...

1 - I get to play with the new forum and learn the new settings and features in my test forum long before it goes Gold and I take it live.

2 - My license no longer runs out in a year, now it is perpetual for the life of the product version. (and I feel assured it wont be less than a year, likely two)

3 - vB4 means I can chuck a few of the unsupported mods from vB org that are now going to be integrated into the OEM product, with more on the way.

[OneSix]

I'm in the wait and see game. Since my license expired, my upgrade price is $190 for suite . It's still cheaper than getting it new, but looking at the price compare to IPB it makes want to switch to another platform. VB 4 really doesn't seems to be any different form VB3.

[edshuck]

I have not replied to this, here or on other boards. So.....

The simple integration of the board and the rest of the site with consistent pw and user id is great but to have this done in a secure manner is wonderful. That alone is worth much of the asking price.

There is much more, but then I am a fan of vB and thus should be discounted as objective.

Thanks

[dilldogs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BSMedia They can chage whatever they want. Personally, I don't think vB4 is worth more than the old vB3 since its basically the same thing with just a CMS added on, had the alpha/beta program been open to everyone, I never would have renewed my license for vB4, but thats life sometimes.

You have to pay more for the publishing Suite to get the CMS, so how is it worth it? You can get vBadvanced Free and other mods to create the same things the publishing Suite has.

I will more then likely be looking into IPB.

[Furor]

I'm also in the same boat as some others. I too was confused over the "Owned" version of the software, where I assumed at most I would have to pay for only the annual upgrade/update fee as well as any mods that I want (blog, etc) and nothing more. I've been out of the loop a bit due to life, so when I came back to download the newest 4.0 version my jaw dropped at seeing that I had to basically "re-buy" the software, and the only thing I got was a small discount.

I do understand that it's an entirely new version (like the Windows examples) and I understand that they have the right to do this, but I guess it's also my right to not like it as a consumer.

I have (3) licenses, and only one of them is not expired since I recently renewed it before the pricing model changed, so since I can technically grandfather my way into 4.0 due to my upgrade agreement lasting until Sept 2010, I'm not sure if I should.

[Tremaynedesigns]

maybe because vbulletin is'nt owned by jelsoft anymore? and the new company wants to change the price...

[Julio]

I'll be saving myself $50.00 and move over to IPB.