Is Invision Power Board getting too business like?

At least, focusing all their features and development on business support forums and sites trying to copy Facebook rather than just standard old forums like those the rest of us run?

Because with those (now getting old) changes like the removal of avatar galleries and the sprite based buttons and images and all the social network features, and even the change where the board part isn't the core of the license, I'm wondering whether this might be a bad direction for them to go in.

When you then factor in how 90% of the add ons seem to be paid, it makes me wonder whether eventually you'll see less and less hobbyists and standard forum owners using the software since it doesn't seem to have the set up and features needed for them. It already took me forever to modify the look to work on my own forum, and it makes me wonder whether it's just not suitable for stuff like gaming, talk, fan related and other such forums any more.

What do you think?

 

Speaking as someone who has been involved with IPS on some level since 2001, I can say that their endgame for over a decade was to appeal to corporate entities. The transition of IBF to IPB (and later, IP.Board) was a gradual evolution of the product from social to business based software.

That's not to say that IPS doesn't care about social sites, but their primary interest is in appealing to businesses because that's where they make their money. That's why bells and whistles that make the software user-friendly to ma and pa are occasionally given up for a more professional looking product.

 

Well they did say they were heading towards the business side of their software, though they also said that you can customize it to look the way you want it to so it could be less business like, I did that.

 

They're just trying to follow Internet Brands as of late. And other companies are following suit.

People are starting to see that Forums are reaching a point where corporations take them seriously....

Gone are the days where forum development is anything but business. Jelsoft made vBulletin to seem like it's not being run by corporate bullies....

 

I like when forums looks "business like" no matter the niche. I'm in love with IPB because I think it's an amazing software, and I'm glad I converted my forum from vbulletin to IPB.

 

I don't think they are been too 'business' like, what I think they are doing is just trying to appeal to more markets by creating these extra features. It can be good and bad, good because there is more options but it does seem that the forum software is getting less work though, agree?

 

I used to be a cheap bastard but then I became a business owner.

I went the IPB route after phpbb because well, free is exactly what you get. free forums are great for the hobbyist, but it is difficult to run a forum to be taken seriously when you have to go to hunt for support and add ons.

Managed VPS/Dedicated + Support from IPB make it a lot easier to focus on building the community instead of worrying about the software itself.

Where IPB is different is that one license allows you to upgrade from any version to any version. You do not have to pay every time for new software, ala VB.

The add ons, are well worth it. You can't think of price alone... think of it this way...

If I invest $xxx right now, will it bring me $xxx in return. If the answer is yes, then you do it.

 

Create a solid core (would be nice if it would be free *dream dream dream*) and build everything on top of the core, instead of having a "board software" and have it as dependecy is IMO the best decision they could have done

What if somebody doesn't want a board, but likes IP.Content?
What if somebody doesn't want a board, but likes their Gallery/Blog/etc...?

It wasn't very attractive because of the high price.
It wasn't very attractive because of the many unnecessary features /bloatware
The result is => even you have great products, you'll not get the biggest possible income.

Now they're able to make the biggest possible income, because they'll reach a much bigger group of possible users.


Also the code will become much sexier and 3rd party dev friendlier IF they do it right (i hoped that 3.0 / 3.1 would be built using all the OOP features, but it wasn't.
That's one of the main reasons, why i never "wanted" to waste my time with trying to learn for IPB.
It's too complicated, it's too much c&p (copy and paste) , it's ........

 

They are changing that in the 4.0 release, if you just want content and blog, you won't have to buy forums too.

 

Didn't i say this?

At least i tried to say it, fu*king google translate

 

Don't worry, I understood what you said perfectly fine. And I always understood what Carsten said perfectly fine. You both just said the same thing.

But yeah, IPB letting you buy just certain parts of the suite without the forums is definitely a good thing. Could be useful if I ever want say a gallery or download based service without a community.

 

OK^^

i thought my post is false translated:d

 

Looks like IPB is changing its business model and going in a totally different direction than IB, XF and others. It should be interesting to see the long term effects and how well their upcoming suite performs.

 

I think it'll do pretty well. Are there competitors charging for CMS systems, galleries, download systems and blog systems? Yes, but none of them have quite the same pedigree as Invision Power Board/IPS.

And when you add that their suite can integrate right off the bat complete with shared logins/accounts/pictures/etc, that gives them a pretty big advantage. For example, Expression Engine might be a good CMS, but it doesn't have a good forum you can use with it or a good downloads system or whatever. Invision Power Board/Suite lets you have a full blown website with a ton of different features that all perfectly integrate with one another and don't require awkward work arounds like bridges or integration mods.

 

Exactly. Ipb is the most complete solution out there.

 

I've always looked at IPB as the business option for forums, well smaller forums that is. Most larger businesses, at least in gov, I know of will have a SaaS forum solution.