My return to IPB

[Andrej]

Everyone rages about the price of vBulletin -- Yeah, the upfront cost is more than just buying IPB. But the out of the box functionality is much better on vB then it is IPB -- You don't have to have a downloads app, you have it built in, you don't need a blogging app, you have it built in. You don't need IP.Content, you have it built in. and so on

Huh? Since I last checked, vBulletin does not include an IP.Content-alike application inbuilt, neither an download manager...

[Soniceffect]

Huh? Since I last checked, vBulletin does not include an IP.Content-alike application inbuilt, neither an download manager...

Or a chatroom, or full shopping cart functionality, or joinable events, or searchable admin, or reorganisable admin, or the ability to limit skins per usergroup, or media that can be used across the site more than once. But hey, I understand what he means :P LOL

End of the day, you could say the same on both sides. One has some things, and the other has other things.

[Dylan Riggs]

I added the IPS apps in an effort to 'meet' what you said vB already includes. So that actually helps the vB side, not hurts it. The ticket and install/upgrade support, since it's included as part of the IPS product license, in order to do a fair comparison, had to include it on the vB side. Can't just pick and choose what to compare and call it fair. You yourself pointed out that vB 5 includes the other stuff as part of the package, but if you want to go the route of not adding in additional stuff...

vB 5 - $249
IP.Board - $175

IP.Board wins. Enough said.

The problem is you're comparing their markets, this comes down to the user's price of what they pay between their 'products' and not what they provide feature wise... that was my whole point of the argument. You can buy xxx to do xxx that other xxx can already xxx do.

I stated that you're paying fees for said products that's either A built in, or B added for free between those products updates that don't cost you a dime. How much does it cost you to run an IPB board for 1 full year with everything you have will generally cost you more then having some equivalent (to a lesser degree) then what vB does.

Throw in those modifcations and your board will end up costing way more then that, hell just between the apps/hooks/skins/mods what ever will pay for the support on vBulletin (which is a complete ripoff and joke I admit)

At the end of the day, again... it's markets -- They're marking their product totally different. IPB can release a full change to their software and cost you 0. It'll cost you $250 on vBulletin. And vice versa, in 1 years time, you're paying for maybe a CKeditor change or buit in SEO, where as vBulletin got a CMS, blog, status's bla bla for free.

Market is a market and they're totally different softwares.... making them the same is stupid, they're trying to be creative (while copying each other in ways)

But by no means is vBulletin a crap program like some are stating, that's just biasm and I'm not trying to play the devil's advocate, but I'm speaking from an unbiased viewpoint here especially as a previous customer to vBulletin

[Wolfie]

Everyone rages about the price of vBulletin -- Yeah, the upfront cost is more than just buying IPB. But the out of the box functionality is much better on vB then it is IPB -- You don't have to have a downloads app, you have it built in, you don't need a blogging app, you have it built in. You don't need IP.Content, you have it built in. and so on

The problem is you're comparing their markets, this comes down to the user's price of what they pay between their 'products' and not what they provide feature wise... that was my whole point of the argument. You can buy xxx to do xxx that other xxx can already xxx do.

I stated that you're paying fees for said products that's either A built in, or B added for free between those products updates that don't cost you a dime. How much does it cost you to run an IPB board for 1 full year with everything you have will generally cost you more then having some equivalent (to a lesser degree) then what vB does.

All I'm going to say is.. Would you like some socks with those flip-flops?

[Dylan Riggs]

All I'm going to say is. Look at your user title

Have a good one

EDIT: Nah -- You just need to L2R.

I'm done here, it's like arguing about Xbox on a PS website, not going to go anywhere but bring it down even further. I'm on IPB for specific reasons and not on vBulletin anymore for specific reasons, but I know up and down and looking in my pocket, I'll always end up spending more money on IPB (already have) vs's unning vBulletin.

The big reason I switched was skinning and it looking more 'updated'. There are not that many other reasons

[Andrej]

I stated that you're paying fees for said products that's either A built in, or B added for free between those products updates that don't cost you a dime. How much does it cost you to run an IPB board for 1 full year with everything you have will generally cost you more then having some equivalent (to a lesser degree) then what vB does.

You seem to attempt to ignore my question, but where you have seen IP. Downloads or IP.Content-like functionality (and OTHER functionality mention by fellow memebers) inbuilt in vBulletin? I don't see it.

[GreenLinks]

What i find extremely funny is : As an old vBulletin developer , i am ashamed of vBulletin 4 and i wish i never joined the team.

However Some users love it , strange :)

[Wolfie]

I'm done here, it's like arguing about Xbox on a PS website, not going to go anywhere but bring it down even further.

It's more like saying one thing and then saying another when the facts don't support what you said the first time around. In order to have a reliable comparison, you have to match the core products and services up as much as you can. I did that after you mentioned about price and what is already included in vB (which others have disputed). Then you flip-flopped on it and tried to say something else. In my comparison, I was doing things that would actually hurt the IPS side yet it still came out to be the better deal.

Mind you, real world costs will end up being different as people won't go about things the same way. But for comparisons, I believe I did a rather good job of doing a fair comparison. To use your Xbox example, it's like saying "the Xbox can use Xbox discs but the PS can't" and then when someone mentions that the PS can use PS discs but that the Xbox can't, you try to say "I was talking about a specific game..."

For real dude, I did a rather decent and fair comparison based on something you said and it's like you just don't want to be wrong so you try to change what you were saying before. Reminds me of this rule of thumb... Don't ask questions that you don't want the answers to. Applies to making comments as well.

[Collin S.]

Everyone please take a step back - this topic has gotten a little heated. Personal attacks are not necessary. Competition is a good thing and we compete on more than just the price. :thumbsup:

[WOFman]

My old forum is vB 4.2. I had no issues with it and it does have CMS which would be similar to ip.content. The reasons that I switched back to IPB are these.

1. IPB has come a long way in developing the 3.x series

2. vB is going to a software that IMHO is a clone of IPB 3.x

3. My vB 4.2 site with vBSEO got my site shut down on hostgator because it was using too many resources (I have my IPB site now on hostgator and am using 1/10th the amount of resources my vB site was using.)

4. If I am going to be forced to have software like IPB 3.x, I might as well have one that has been developed instead of one still under development with tons of bugs vB 5.0.

5. I just don't like how Internet Brands does business. They came out with 5.0 before 4.x was fully developed to its potential. (it is a money grab!)

BTW, just need to say this, your spammer feature on 3.4.2 ROCKS!!!! I had to have 3 add-on modifications on my vB to do the same thing this built in feature does.

[_Mac]

@All

THANK's everyone for this discussion! As current a vB admin, I do learn a lot of the pro's & con's of both software platforms. Most interesting is to learn about the IPB, good and bad, since I'm thinking of switching soon to IPB from vB. It's also interesting to see many of you vote on my little (hopefully not so bias) poll here (Just telling the truth about my experience of vB support...) and to see the results grows.

Also, I'm wondering about the top 5 things you love with IPB Suite (I'm assuming most of you use the whole package) here:

You're Top 5 things you LOVE about the IPB Suite?

(Sorry about "hogging" this thread, but it's it seems to be so many good admins here with experience from both vB & IPB, and I DO value your experience and tips, before we do our "switch" back to IPB.)