Will 2013 bring new forum software?

Someone here just mentioned this in another topic, and I thought it might be interesting to think about. But basically, will 2013 have new forum software released?

And if so, is there a chance it'll become as well known as the likes of vBulletin, Invision Power Board and XenForo?

What do you think? Me, I think it's possible, but that the likes of Launch.forum won't be it (since development seems to have been abandoned) and neither will a return of Burning Board (because their new features are just playing catchup to IPB and XenForo).

But maybe some ex vB or IPB or heck, even XenForo developer might try and set up their own software.

 

It is possible that we'll see another new forum software at some point in 2013, but I think it's unlikely, because every year it'll get harder for forum developers to think of new ways to make their software better then the competition.

I don't think any new forum software will last, but I could be wrong.

 

I think its likely that we will. Mostly for exactly the opposite line of thought from the above post:
With Xenforo already outdated and frozen in a law suit, vbulletin not being able to produce quality software, IPS being challenging for end users, there is a massive opportunity for new software to bring forum software to this day and age.

The needs of forum owners is changing and I see very little solution to those needs.

I'm certain we will see new software appear this year. Some not completely new but completely overhauled like burning board 4. Some completely built up from the ground. I'm really hoping that we will see some very good modern stuff that allows us to compete with stackexchange, quora, yahoo answers, facebook, tumbler, etc.

 

I doubt seriously we see anything of note. It takes two years to develop a quality product. I also think the standard formula of message board forum software has run its course. There's really nothing a person can do that hasn't already been done by another forum. The next product will have to break the mold. vB5 was built with that intention but seems to be falling either short or behind schedule or both.

 

There needs to be demand for there to be added competition. Any new competitors will be a waste of time giving attention to unless they're not playing catch up.

 

Burning Board 4 looks very promising for 2013.

 

I've seen launch.forum, and it looks awesome and incredibly promising. If their programmers can get back at it, it will easily become a well-used software, due to the fact it all flows so nicely and is such an awesome-looking software, according to the demo video. I was really hoping for it, and when I checked back in a few weeks ago, was disheartened to see it basically gone... I hope they get back with it. Otherwise, there aren't many new softwares I'm interested in.

 

I can't agree here with you (Depending on what exactly you want to!
1. Rule: Don't reinvent the wheel. Don't do it like vB5 coders, don't code everything yourself
2. Rule: INclude only, what exactly is needed...
Include it as soon as possible, but 100% clean (e.g. TDD) so you don't need to waste time with fixing >5000 bugs

Here i agree 100% with you.
There are enought 0815 standard forums, (even for free).
Myspace, Facebook & co have changed the game and people require MUCH more.

 

You have to code everything yourself or you run the risk of being the next XenForo.

 

Not if you use open source or freely available code. Or some you buy from an existing project. Or maybe a framework.

Not to mention that XenForo only had this problem because Internet Brands wanted to run them out of business due to the people behind the software being those who worked on vBulletin. And because it'd drew away customers.

 

If you use open source code you leave yourself open to the source code being altered. You have no legal protection against theft. The most anyone would have to do is to credit the source of the code, which wouldn't be the developer of the product.

The last thing anyone developing a new product wants is to invest thousands of dollars and thousands of manhours only to immediately embroil the product and its developers in litigation. If you think the reasoning behind the litigation matters, it doesn't to the legal bills that accumulate defending oneself from companies with far greater resources. Internet Brands can afford to simply litigate the competition out of business. So, I would imagine, can IPB. Therefore, it would be a poor business decision to give those brands any reason to do so. Part of the issue with XenForo, as I understand it, is that they were developing the product while they worked for vBulletin. In violation of non-competition agreements. Not the most intelligent business decision.

 

THIS!!!!

You don't need to be stupid like IB devs and code everything yourself. (

Do it like Kier and Mike and use already existing,mature, well coded & tested framework components from zend framework or any other framework... (that's also an reason why i think that phpbb will be an winner soon! they're also using symfony2 components )
and AFAIK the next phpbb major version will use symfony2 framework


ATM i would request to use zf2 or symfony2(that's what we're doing)
The small performance overhead and "we need to follow the symfony2 coding way" is a very good compromise, because we're able to use all the symfony2 bundles=>
Use also as much as possible existing bundles, if they have the right license(specially symfony2 have MANY MANY asskicking bundles under MIT license ... http://knpbundles.com/ )
I hadn't to implement the user logic, the 3rd party logins(facebook, twitter), i hadn't to code my own payment gateways for paypal and dotplay because they exist already and even own shop bundles and also a great magento bridge exists for symfony2 etc........ ATM i'm using ~ 45 3rd party bundles. the best thing is=> adrian is also leaving vB world and started working on his own forum bundles : https://github.com/Courtyard ..atm he's very busy so he hadn't updated it for a long time, but i really hope that he'll get back to this, so i even wouldn't need to implement this)

Which means, i had a basic forum with the feature set of of vB3.5.4 finished in 1 week. (with entity reverse engineering via doctrine)
It was only a playground because i started to learn symfony2 framework, now i'm much more familiar with it and heeeeeeeeeeeeeeell, it's great

And the best thing is, it's soo easy and extensible, that i've created a xenforo <-> symfony2 bridge (that's ATM my xenforo 1.2 RTE version for my clients, and atm i'm working on symfony2 <-> vbulletin <-> wordpress bridge because of an current client, who wanted to use vB4 and i can't get familiar with vB4.... it's too ugly once you coded addons for xenforo or used symfony2)

 

I hope we will see more Django based software.

 

w

why python/django framework?

 

As an existing framework for community software, the development time is much shorter than building software up from the ground. Many community functions already exist in some form.

stackexchange, disqus, instagram, pinterest, giantbomb, adobe forums are all very good examples of what can be done functionality wise with Django.

Its very scalable, as these massively popular websites showcase.

Django needs to get updated, but I am happy to see that Django 1.5 is around the corner, as the release candidate is out.

 

I honestly would love to see vBulletin implement a tagging feature without having to install a plugin. And plus, in order for the forum niche to grow as a whole, new ideas need to come out. You never know XF may release a lot of new features or vBulletin may when their new version goes gold. I honestly can't wait to see what developers come out with.

 

We saw Discourse already, WoltLab should release fourth major of their software sometime later this year, and hopefully my software will reach feature-complete stage by summer.

Whats so bad about Dj 1.4 that 1.5 really fixes?

 

There is no way of telling but I'm sure someone is already working on some software and it is just a matter of time before we see one.

 

Id love to see a new forum software because i do get quite bored of the current free ones since i don't really have enough to be paying $140 for like xenforo as it can be quite pricy, id love something like xenforo but free id defiantly transfer my forum over!

 

I think that there will be some radical changes maybe not in 20013 but a little later. Once the developers decide to leave their "comfort zone" and look at what their customers REALLY want, then we will see the new wave of software emerge.