I have been with vBulletin since 2006 and I have had an experience in 2007 where I had transferred one out of two of my licenses to another person and it was near to enough seamless to the fact that the license was near enough transferred all in the same day. I recently purchased a vBulletin license which gives me the option to download vBulletin v4.1+ till October 2010 (It is an owned license) so after that I will have to purchase either another license or upgrade to either a vB4 license. At this point I think and if I am making money by then I will most likely purchase a new license then use that license for other website purposes. (Meaning I will have three licenses in total as I currently have two… though I am still waiting for vBulletin to deliver one to me) – Which is what my rant is kind of about as in 2006 I received replies with vBulletin usually within the first 30 minutes of submitting a ticket. Perhaps their client-base has grown as they recently joined “Internet Brands” which may have stepped up marketing/advertising on the web. However usually when this type of growth happens companies or organisations usually hire more staff. Though with vBulletin’s current licensing structure you can see why they wouldn’t want to employ support staff in the hundreds and this is quite understandable from my perspective.
I am kind of disappointed with vBulletin — not the developers or the owners before “Internet Brands” bought them out. However with how the business has been constructed and how it is right now. Their licensing structure in my opinion kind of sucks for current vB3 clientele who they have betrayed by introducing larger costs in terms of renewals. (Even though vB do not consider it a renewal) – They consider it an upgrade. Now in their own right as a company which aims to make money they sure are allowed to do this however they will get customers who feel they have been dealt an unfair deal, as they virtually have a license which they can’t sell for a high price to make a return from their money or a license which will eventually go out of date. – OK, so this is none of their business but at least companies or organisations like “Invision Power Board” are dealing their customers a great deal as opposed to leaving people behind with older versions of their software. I guess this is just a rant as I used to be an avid fan of vBulletin before they were purchased by “Internet Brands” who are an organisation which have substantially changed how vBulletin has been run. I also miss the fact that vBulletin used to be a British company as Britain is slowly losing some of its most reputable companies to the US; namely this is said at the time that Cadburys chocolate is being sold to Kraft foods for 11.9 billion.
