No. It may have well been a big reason for the change in software, but had nothing to do with the update itself. While VBulletin was not free, the version previously used was paid for. There was no ongoing or recurring cost to keep using it. They could have kept on using it, without updating, for "free." In fact, it was a very old version and they had been doing that very thing for quite some time.skou wrote:OK guys, if you look, phpBB is FREE, and VBulletin wasn't.skou wrote:Here's the REAL reason for the "update."
phpBB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhpBB
VBulletin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VBulletin
See the difference? We used to be VBulletin, and now we're phpBB.
steve
In my (never to be) humble opinion, THAT is the reason for
the "update."
steve
The simple fact is that they were using a very old version of the VBulletin forum software. It was no longer supported by the manufacturer. There were security holes. It was long past time for the forum to be updated. So they basically had two choices - pay for the newest version of VBulletin, or go with a free product like phpBB. Because of how old the version of VBulletin was they were using and the process it would take to upgrade, it was just as easy (or hard) to change to a different software. In computer terms, imagine "updating" Windows 3.1 to Windows 8. With that kind of update, it wouldn't be any more difficult to migrate to Linux or Mac.
Personally, I think "Admin" made the right decision. He had to go through the migration anyway. phpBB, while free, like Linux, has a ton of community support, has a ton of available add-ons and plugins from purely cosmetic to enhancing security, and is in constant development. This means that future updates will not be years apart because somebody didn't want to approve a purchase for annual support or the next new release from VBulletin necessitating a complete overhaul once an update could not be pushed off any longer.
The decision keeps the forum up to date, secure, with features expected of modern forum software, at no new monetary cost. Good decision, if you ask me.