Settlement Talks

Anything but withdrawal of IB's claims and refund of legal costs to xF will be extremly disappointing.

And I would be suprised if K&M agreed to maintain xF under IB considering how they have quit after clash with IB's management.

 

I call FUD

 

Then learn what FUD means.

 

Fear, uncertainty and doubt

 

I think neither Kier nor Mike would have fun working under IB's control. So, if IB gets control over the software, Kier and Mike would be gone (much as they are now, so no difference). Both are far away from software coding since more than 1 year now, so that wouldn't be a problem for them. Maybe Kier will continue under IB's watch, but Mike for sure wouldn't from my point of view.

IB surely likes to get control over XenForo given their debacle with vBulletin. They recognize the value in that software (even KAM didn't recognize it, otherwise they would never have stopped development and participation)
This is why I also assume that ownership over XF will change for a lot of money and settlement of all pending law cases.

 

Find it hard to imagine that one as well, not after everything that's gone on and both Kier and Mike leaving IB before off their own accord to do their own thing instead.

 

If that happened, KAM would be under pressure to continue developing XenForo "tied to an agreement" with IB, whether they want to continue or not. But what if it's not selling enough to pay KAM a weekly wage, and with IB taking a cut out the profits also. XenForo is still small, would it even be able to sell enough right now to support something like that?

Doing some maths for the hell of it. XenForo sells for $140, that's about £90 UK money. So to pay Kier alone a wage of £300 week (what he might want), they need to sell about 4 licences per week, that's 8 licences to pay both Kier and Mike a wage need to be sold weekly. If IB was taking a cut, they might have to shift 12-14 licences per week minimum. Do you think XenForo is currently selling between 10-14 new licences each week? Because License Renewals - doesn't factor into things much, because most are saying they won't renew until development restarts and another new release is made, plus XenForo user-base is too small yet. So they ain't getting much from that as extra backup money coming in on a regular bases. Selling 10-14 licences might not sound a lot each week, but when you're a small company that takes some doing when you have IPB and vBulletin after the same sales, and lets not forget the harm XenForo have done to their own sales credibility with nothing happening for 12 months.

Thing is, it would still be taking money away from vBulletin sales lining KAM's pocket. And if XenForo then went on to become even more popular selling much more later at vBulletin's expense, it would be a bad decision made by IB really. They wouldn't be able to do anything about it either, as they would have agreed to only take a small percentage of cash out XF sales, so I'd be surprised if something like that happened...

 

You see this right, Gaza.

IMHO Mike doesn't want to continue development. Kier is also far away from development since more that a year.

I doubt that we'll ever see a XenForo 1.2 under control of KAM.

Since the settlement talks seems to be serious, the only outcome -if they'll really settle- will be something that gives IB control over XenForo in it's current state. From this point of view it makes even sense that they stopped development.

KAM is allowed to release another software if they like to do so. KAM get some money reimbursed. IB gets full control over XenForo.

This is one of the most likely outcomes.

 

They've deleted the vB bashing thread at XenForo and ruled (who?) that they won't allow such threads any more.

While it was the right thing to do (however, almost all mods commented in it and there were several such threads!), it makes me wonder if this decision has something to do with the settlement talks.

It's now 3 days after the last known meeting and nothing has been announced. And no news are bad news, because a total win would have been announced in the minute they knew it.

 

I like to think that some development work has gone on but KAM might have been advised not to release anymore work until everything is done with the courts.

I also think that if Mike isn't going to be developing the software he will still be an owner very much like was John was for years.

 

I doubt we'll know the complete details of any settlement. These things are usually done with a confidentiality agreement. I also doubt it will be a complete win for either side.

My guess is they have a settlement already and are drafting the agreements and ironing out the details.

 

I also think there was a settlement. They clearly don't want to provide a stage for vb bashing any longer (which they did for more than a year now). And the "mods" for sure didn't decide that.

 

Something is going on, you can only still guess what until word is posted "what exactly has happened". But you have to say, it's looking more and more likely something has been agreed with a settlement. There really should be something on PACER by now, even after the 13th and 14th dates, which lead to more talks on 20th - Pacer was still updated for them dates 2 days later.

It's the weekend now, so you would have expected PACER to be updated at the latest on Friday 22nd, 2 days after talks before weekend comes and courts are closed until Monday. Only thing I can think, there was either an adjournment with the talks for the following day (or whenever), which lead to a delay in PACER not being updated. Or, things are now being kept confidential on purpose.

Thing is as well. KAM are not coming out saying no agreement has been reached, that only helps fuel speculation further. And unfortunately, there are a few things happening quite timely recently. vB5 is installed at vB.com in-between 14th and 20th, they removed that vBulletin 5 thread and posted no more bashing of competitor products is allowed. Maybe something and nothing.. but you don't know?

 

Everyone is waiting for PACER. But its updates are triggered by the lawyers. ;-)
And KAM knows exactly what's going on. Their silence means: No favorable outcome for XF until now. This may also mean: No settlement.

 

Well... the longer it goes on with Pacer not being updated for 20th meeting, the more it looks a settlement is being finalized and why nothing is getting listed on pacer. We can use that as an idea, because all along Pacer has been updated at some point soon afterwards (with each hearing). So should be no reason for it to continue same way, unless things are now being made confidential. That can only mean a settlement of some sort has happened.

See if out gets listed on PACER this coming week, something should.

 

If I'm right, all the mods had a say in that thread and left it running. So who suddenly removed it?