Upgrading to vB4?

Once the developers release updates to the important modifications I'am running, I will be updating. But I have too many mods installed to just update right off the bat.

 

Not for a while. Too much custom templates, plugins and products.

 

Love the trade mark!

 

Granted reading the latest discussions about vB 4, I think I'll be laughing like a mad man.

 

Oh goodness...I don't intend to upgrade for at least several months. I don't even want to think about the pain I'll endure in updating the styles and mods. I do want to install a test installation to see if there are any pressing features that I absolutely must get live asap. Survived on vB3 for years, few months will be nothing.

 

Not only that, but consider the fact that each release of version 4 is going to have more features than the last. I find myself repeating this over and over, but they are going with an iterative release strategy (unlike ever before), working on and renovating different parts spread over several releases.

I'm sure Wayne can elaborate on this aspect and correct me if I'm wrong. I haven't been reading vB.com lately, so I may not be caught up on some of the recent discussions and discoveries.

 

If anyone cares Ray made a post (#4) in this thread, and an announcement in the vB announcement forum on vB:
vBulletin Community Forum

 

I'm shocked, I've barely seen any posts from the IB staff. Thanks for the link!

 

Do a search on Rays posts, he made a few today that I've found interesting.

 

I'm actuallyy interested on seeing an actual vB forum using the 4.0. Seems bulky at the moment and rumor has it that they just want to release at the same time as IPB, or something like that. Just rumors, others say that it's bulky and a downgrade of their service.

Bad rumors and shizz.

 

SInce it's becoming increasingly obvious that leased licence holders are being dumped and encouraged to clear off to something else, that's exactly what I'll be doing. My leased licence expires in february, I can't justify $300 or whatever to buy the suite just to carry on running blog and project tools which I have already paid for, so no I won't be touching 4.0.

I don't like the sound of it anyway. If asked I would struggle to name ONE new feature in the basic forum package that 4 has but that 3 doesn't.

Quite apart from which, the attitude of the company nowadays to its customers stinks. I get treated like that at work, there's no way I'm going to be treated the same way in my hobby. I don't need the stress.

I'll be migrating to IPB early next year.

 

Beautiful words, Mark, just bloody beautiful.

 

Well the focus on the vBulletin 4.0 series is more about architecture than it is about the wholesale adding of features. Though through rearchitecture, we can integrate features better, provide enhancements to current content types and build the software better.

In vBulletin 4.0, the Style and Search architectures have been rewritten completely. These are the two biggest issues facing customers today. The vBulletin 3.X style is outdated and cumbersome. Its difficult to add new features to it easily and so that they are usable. So a new style was needed. The style is more than just the look on the top. It required a new engine underneath that was OOP and more under control with vBulletin getting its own XML namespace to handle variables.

The templates are also more self-correcting. This means that when you upgrade, vBulletin will check your current templates against the new default ones and the default templates from the previous version. It will then attempt to make the changes necessary to bring your current templates up to date without any editing on your part. That should make future upgrades a lot easier, especially since layout is no longer controlled by templates but by style variables and CSS. You'll see less template edits overall. This will make it easier for plugins to insert their code, or to control objects through the DOM and makes a lot of new feature enhancements possible in the future.

Search in vBulletin was monolithic. It was written back in 2003 and not really expandable. Too much work to overhaul for a point release and needed a steady focus. Previously each content type needed its own search engine built into vBulletin. This is why when you searched for a term you had to run a search in different areas to find them all. This has been rectified. It also offloads search to additional tables so that you shouldn't have locking issues on the post and thread tables on large boards.

The biggest new features in vBulletin 4.0 are the Content Management System which allows users with appropriate permissions to create articles and pages from the front-end and allows administrators to create Page Layouts using grids and widgets. The big feature is Ad Management. It hasn't really been talked about much but it allows the Administrator greater control over advertising placement and who views them.

Really that is it for vBulletin 4.0. Maybe a few things here and there. Changes to the Style alone warrant the 4.0 version number because its a big step forward to the software. The CMS and Ad Management allow vBulletin to grow beyond the forum niche and makes the software a Community Platform. This is a move that has been several years in coming, long before IB purchased the company at least since the introduction of Project Tools and the Blog but before then is my thinking.

For addon developers, this means that they will need to redo their templates for the release of vBulletin 4.0. Plugins will need to be changed to actually register variables with templates before display and then properly build the template. No more random variables just tossed in templates without order. However the actual plugin system is relatively unchanged so this should not be a difficult task for experienced coders. The amateur plugin developers may struggle with some of the concepts.

That is basically it for vBulletin 4.0 explained right there. vBulletin 4.1 will involve the architecture of database interaction, new content types, and bringing discipline to the plugin system. Again all major undertakings. It will probably be the most significant undertaking in the 4.X series.

Doesn't seem like a lot but vBulletin 4.0 also has the shortest development time of any major vBulletin version. Only 9 months at that. We'll see if they have the resources to get it down to 6 months like they want. Only time will tell that. I know that most people don't have access to the development like I do but I am impressed by what the development team has done and think that most customers will be happy with the new version instead of waiting for 18-24 months to see an alpha of the originally envisioned vBulletin 4.

 

Sounds good, thanks for the explanation Wayne.

As others have said, I'll hold off until my plugins, etc. are updated; as well as waiting to see the new pricing structure.

When/if I do upgrade, I'll first install a test copy just to try everything out. After that I'll install it on my smaller forums. I'm still not decided if I will upgrade my largest site. If the others go well, I might though.

 

I'm glad we have Wayne here to talk sense. Yes, I'm a little apprehensive about this upgrade (especially the price) but we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out. If they're actually listening to their customers it should mean a quality product.

 

It is indeed great to have Wayne as an active member of this community - it's very much appreciated.

I'm looking forward to the release of vB4. From the looks of it, some excellent changes have been made. I was originally going to upgrade shortly after the release was announced publicly, but I may hold off for a bit and install a test copy before doing anything else.

 

Seems like a huge step to me.

The question I keep asking myself is, "How many plugins & templates will have to be changed from 4.0 to 4.1?"

You have mentioned upgrades regarding templates should be self correcting, or at least that will be attemped. Is the goal to have (well written) plugins written for 4.0 work for 4.1, or the 4.x series?

I'm not a programmer but would like to have an idea about these types of things for planning purposes.

 

Right now I'm thinking my first vB4 license should be a completely new forum so I don't have to worry about incompatible mods or backpedaling on features.

 

I'd like to thank Wayne for posting that information, most informative.

I'm relieved to say that vb4 does sound impressive, though the lack of much new at the end user level (except the style) makes it hard to "sell" the idea to your members, especially as on modified boards they will initially lose more than they'll gain.

I'll still watch it with interest, but it's too late for me - the imminent removal of my type of licence (leased) forces me to ditch vBulletin and use something else. There just isn't the budget on a not-for-profit hobby board to spend $300 potentially every year on the software. A terrible shame and I suspect there will be others like me. Funds can only be stretched so far, especially in a recession when many people are suffering pay cuts etc.

IPB will be the likely recipient of my business but the more I play with MyBB the more I think...hmmm....maybe....

Sadly I can no longer even articulate these concerns on the vb.com site because you just can't foresee the consequences. That's how Invision always used to be (don't know if they still are but I'll soon find out) and it's such a pity.

 

The prices isn't finally yet but the rumors say its around $200 for the forum only and $300 for the suite and this is only one time payment.