Author Archive
Oct
23
And we’re back!
Posted by: | CommentsWe decided to take some extra time before bringing the forums back up after the upgrade to 4.0. Briefly, here's what happened.
First, the good news: The installation of 4.0 itself actually went as planned. The upgrade to 4.0 Publishing Suite from the 3.8.4 base product was seamless, and that agrees with the success the alpha/beta team has seen up to this point.
The issues we encountered were related to the fact that the instance of vB running on vBulletin.com has integration points with various business systems: administration, release management, ticket support, the product information site, and more. Cooler heads make better problem solvers, so we chose to investigate and solve the problems with the site offline rather than live to the world.
The issues we ran into are unique to our environment, and they are not things that would factor into a normal customer installation.
We're happy to have the forums live and stable. As noted in my announcement Wednesday night, this is a very early beta release, so there are still known bugs yet to be fixed before the gold. As you find bugs, you may report them here as usual. As we work through the beta cycle, we will periodically update this installation to include the latest bug fixes.
First, the good news: The installation of 4.0 itself actually went as planned. The upgrade to 4.0 Publishing Suite from the 3.8.4 base product was seamless, and that agrees with the success the alpha/beta team has seen up to this point.
The issues we encountered were related to the fact that the instance of vB running on vBulletin.com has integration points with various business systems: administration, release management, ticket support, the product information site, and more. Cooler heads make better problem solvers, so we chose to investigate and solve the problems with the site offline rather than live to the world.
The issues we ran into are unique to our environment, and they are not things that would factor into a normal customer installation.
We're happy to have the forums live and stable. As noted in my announcement Wednesday night, this is a very early beta release, so there are still known bugs yet to be fixed before the gold. As you find bugs, you may report them here as usual. As we work through the beta cycle, we will periodically update this installation to include the latest bug fixes.
Oct
23
And we’re back!
Posted by: | CommentsWe decided to take some extra time before bringing the forums back up after the upgrade to 4.0. Briefly, here's what happened.
First, the good news: The installation of 4.0 itself actually went as planned. The upgrade to 4.0 Publishing Suite from the 3.8.4 base product was seamless, and that agrees with the success the alpha/beta team has seen up to this point.
The issues we encountered were related to the fact that the instance of vB running on vBulletin.com has integration points with various business systems: administration, release management, ticket support, the product information site, and more. Cooler heads make better problem solvers, so we chose to investigate and solve the problems with the site offline rather than live to the world.
The issues we ran into are unique to our environment, and they are not things that would factor into a normal customer installation.
We're happy to have the forums live and stable. As noted in my announcement Wednesday night, this is a very early beta release, so there are still known bugs yet to be fixed before the gold. As you find bugs, you may report them here as usual. As we work through the beta cycle, we will periodically update this installation to include the latest bug fixes.
First, the good news: The installation of 4.0 itself actually went as planned. The upgrade to 4.0 Publishing Suite from the 3.8.4 base product was seamless, and that agrees with the success the alpha/beta team has seen up to this point.
The issues we encountered were related to the fact that the instance of vB running on vBulletin.com has integration points with various business systems: administration, release management, ticket support, the product information site, and more. Cooler heads make better problem solvers, so we chose to investigate and solve the problems with the site offline rather than live to the world.
The issues we ran into are unique to our environment, and they are not things that would factor into a normal customer installation.
We're happy to have the forums live and stable. As noted in my announcement Wednesday night, this is a very early beta release, so there are still known bugs yet to be fixed before the gold. As you find bugs, you may report them here as usual. As we work through the beta cycle, we will periodically update this installation to include the latest bug fixes.
Oct
21
Upgrading vBulletin.com to 4.0 tomorrow
Posted by: | CommentsWe know everyone is anxious to see vB4 in action, so here it comes!
We are planning to upgrade vBulletin.com to vB4 starting very early tomorrow morning. The plan is to put /forums/ into maintenance mode in the middle of the night (Pacific time) and be live again by mid-morning.
Please note that this rollout will be an early beta release. By early, I mean really early, much earlier than betas have historically been rolled out on vb.com. It is not a release candidate, so there will be rough spots, which we're still working on, but we are choosing to make this available now in order to give you the earliest possible view of what is being built.
This initial rollout will include Forums and Blog, as well as an internal build of Project Tools. It will not initially include CMS, but that will follow soon afterward.
We have tested the upgrade process in a staging environment, and we are confident that it should go well. In the event that something doesn't go as planned, we will simply revert to the current installation of 3.8.4, fix what breaks, and try again.
In anticipation of the expected questions...
Why didn't you wait until the product was more "done"?
To give you the earliest possible view of the new vB4.
Why didn't you wait until the CMS could be released along with Forum and Blog?
To give you the earliest possible view of the new vB4.
Why aren't you delaying the release until feature _____ is implemented?
In the spirit of release early, release often, we want to get releases out to customers early, in order to get real-world feedback, and often, so that they can start benefiting from basic features as soon as they are available, with more advanced features following shortly after in subsequent releases.
See you in the morning!
We are planning to upgrade vBulletin.com to vB4 starting very early tomorrow morning. The plan is to put /forums/ into maintenance mode in the middle of the night (Pacific time) and be live again by mid-morning.
Please note that this rollout will be an early beta release. By early, I mean really early, much earlier than betas have historically been rolled out on vb.com. It is not a release candidate, so there will be rough spots, which we're still working on, but we are choosing to make this available now in order to give you the earliest possible view of what is being built.
This initial rollout will include Forums and Blog, as well as an internal build of Project Tools. It will not initially include CMS, but that will follow soon afterward.
We have tested the upgrade process in a staging environment, and we are confident that it should go well. In the event that something doesn't go as planned, we will simply revert to the current installation of 3.8.4, fix what breaks, and try again.
In anticipation of the expected questions...
Why didn't you wait until the product was more "done"?
To give you the earliest possible view of the new vB4.
Why didn't you wait until the CMS could be released along with Forum and Blog?
To give you the earliest possible view of the new vB4.
Why aren't you delaying the release until feature _____ is implemented?
In the spirit of release early, release often, we want to get releases out to customers early, in order to get real-world feedback, and often, so that they can start benefiting from basic features as soon as they are available, with more advanced features following shortly after in subsequent releases.
See you in the morning!
Oct
21
vBulletin 4.0 Beta
Posted by: | CommentsThe beta testing cycle for vBulletin 4.0 Forums and Publishing Suite will be starting within a few business days. Many thanks to the hundreds of customers who applied to join the beta program.
Those customers who were selected to join the beta program have been notified by email. If you did not receive an email, please don't PM me to ask if you were approved; if you were approved, I'll make sure that I make contact with you by email, PM and/or phone.
Those customers who were selected to join the beta program have been notified by email. If you did not receive an email, please don't PM me to ask if you were approved; if you were approved, I'll make sure that I make contact with you by email, PM and/or phone.
Oct
14
Pre-Sale offer for customers with expired licenses
Posted by: | CommentsDue to an overwhelming response and interest in the pre-sale event for vBulletin 4.0 Publishing Suite, we've decided to extend an offer to those customers with inactive licenses.
For licenses that expired in the last 12 months, we are offering an extra $45 discount for advance ordering, in addition to the publicly available pre-sale savings. This means the all new vB 4.0 Publishing Suite will cost you only $190, a total savings of $95.
For licenses that expired more than 12 month ago, we are offering an extra $25 discount for advance ordering, in addition to the publicly available pre-sale savings. This means the all new vB 4.0 Publishing Suite will cost you only $210, a total savings of $75.
These limited time offers expire on October 30, 2009. Beginning on October 31, the price will be $285.
You will be able to take advantage of this offer in the next couple of days - we are currently working to make it an option in your shopping cart. We will notify you once this offer is live on the website.
For licenses that expired in the last 12 months, we are offering an extra $45 discount for advance ordering, in addition to the publicly available pre-sale savings. This means the all new vB 4.0 Publishing Suite will cost you only $190, a total savings of $95.
For licenses that expired more than 12 month ago, we are offering an extra $25 discount for advance ordering, in addition to the publicly available pre-sale savings. This means the all new vB 4.0 Publishing Suite will cost you only $210, a total savings of $75.
These limited time offers expire on October 30, 2009. Beginning on October 31, the price will be $285.
You will be able to take advantage of this offer in the next couple of days - we are currently working to make it an option in your shopping cart. We will notify you once this offer is live on the website.
Oct
13
Announcing the Presale Event for vBulletin 4.0 Suite and Important License Changes
Posted by: | CommentsWe hope your community is enjoying the flexibility and power of vBulletin. As always, our goal is to offer a great product at a great price, and we are dedicated to helping you build and grow successful online communities.
Over the last 12 months, we have been building vBulletin 4.0 to be the most powerful forum and social publishing software. Today, we are proud to introduce the new vBulletin 4.0 Publishing Suite product that includes the power of the vBulletin 4.0 Forums with a seamlessly integrated content management system (CMS) and blogging platform.
As a preferred customer with an active license, we are excited to offer the vBulletin Publishing Suite at a pre-sale discount price of only $130 (over 50% off regular price). This is a truly limited one-time special offer giving you $120 off the upgrade price but will expire on Friday October 30, 2009.
Learn more about vBulletin Publishing Suite features and pricing on our new website: http://www.vbulletin.com/
Beginning today, we are introducing new a license structure. vBulletin is changing to a one-time owned license fee for each major point release. That means no more annual renewal fees. Once you purchase a major point version, youll receive maintenance, security and minor point releases for the life of 4.x.
You have the option to keep your current active license until it expires (according to the 12 month term and conditions). For the remainder of your active license, you will continue to receive support and have access to forum software updates, including vBulletin 4.0 Forums. Once your license expires you will only be able to access the 4 Series software updates by switching to the new one-time owned license. For more information, visit the vBulletin FAQ.
Over the last 10 years, our products have offered an exceptional value and we look forward to bringing you the best and keeping you as a loyal customer. Our team is expanding in number and expertise in order to develop more innovative features and to deliver them faster. We are investing in exciting development areas such as new products and services for 'Big Boards' and mobile applications and look forward to helping you grow your community.
Sincerely,
The vBulletin Team
Over the last 12 months, we have been building vBulletin 4.0 to be the most powerful forum and social publishing software. Today, we are proud to introduce the new vBulletin 4.0 Publishing Suite product that includes the power of the vBulletin 4.0 Forums with a seamlessly integrated content management system (CMS) and blogging platform.
As a preferred customer with an active license, we are excited to offer the vBulletin Publishing Suite at a pre-sale discount price of only $130 (over 50% off regular price). This is a truly limited one-time special offer giving you $120 off the upgrade price but will expire on Friday October 30, 2009.
Learn more about vBulletin Publishing Suite features and pricing on our new website: http://www.vbulletin.com/
Beginning today, we are introducing new a license structure. vBulletin is changing to a one-time owned license fee for each major point release. That means no more annual renewal fees. Once you purchase a major point version, youll receive maintenance, security and minor point releases for the life of 4.x.
You have the option to keep your current active license until it expires (according to the 12 month term and conditions). For the remainder of your active license, you will continue to receive support and have access to forum software updates, including vBulletin 4.0 Forums. Once your license expires you will only be able to access the 4 Series software updates by switching to the new one-time owned license. For more information, visit the vBulletin FAQ.
Over the last 10 years, our products have offered an exceptional value and we look forward to bringing you the best and keeping you as a loyal customer. Our team is expanding in number and expertise in order to develop more innovative features and to deliver them faster. We are investing in exciting development areas such as new products and services for 'Big Boards' and mobile applications and look forward to helping you grow your community.
Sincerely,
The vBulletin Team
Oct
08
vBulletin China
Posted by: | CommentsAfter much discussion with the vBulletin China team, we have made the decision to discontinue sales through vBulletin China for the time being. The official vBulletin China domain, vbulletin-china.cn, now points to forums.vbulletin-china.cn.
This decision does not reflect negatively in any way on the vB-China team. In fact they have done an excellent job taking care of vB customers in China, and members of the vB-China team are currently working with the core US development team on vBulletin 4.0.
This decision does not reflect negatively in any way on the vB-China team. In fact they have done an excellent job taking care of vB customers in China, and members of the vB-China team are currently working with the core US development team on vBulletin 4.0.
