Ah yes, the obligatory 'jump on the bandwagon and blog about it' post about the new kid on the block. xenForo.
This new forum software is still in Alpha 1 stages, developed by former vBulletin developers, Mike Sullivan and Kier Darby, and currently, it's been open around 12hrs and has 2000+ posts and 200+ members. I think it's safe to assume that all of these members are from vBulletin or IPB forums, and have an interest in running the product. The product has currently received a very very positive reception from these formerly disgruntled customers of vBulletin/IPB, which is good in itself, however I feel that it is missing some core features, and I'm personally keeping a list of all the things I'm seeing, and thinking "ooh, that'd be nice if we can do something like this with x, and something which works with y and z".
What also is making me cringe, is people are willing to jump into the product and fully support it without so much as a hint at the backend options, the plugin system, the templating system, etc. I see people on the official xenForo Community Forum with sigs like "xen coming soon.."
Here's what I've been posting on the plethora of forums which are currently hosting topics filled with people drooling after the software, people are claiming that it will be the vB/IPB killer, I guess only time will tell.
I know that this blog post is seeming very negative, but I wanted it to seem that way, because I think it is important for others to see it from a different perspective, and not through the rose tinted glasses they're all wearing. In truth, I like xenForo, I've known about it since I found the Facebook group on June 20th, I saw it, informed a few select friends and then we all kept schtum and waited. Upon seeing this build, even at Alpha stages, I think that it will shape up to be a very fine product, but it'll take a while to beat vB or IPB, (no matter what the hyped up masses are saying on the company forums), though I think that in its current form it is beating free alternatives such as PHPBB and SMF hands down. I recognise that it's a huge achievement that Mike and Kier have done, but it still needs more work, and I believe that even they would agree with that.
This new forum software is still in Alpha 1 stages, developed by former vBulletin developers, Mike Sullivan and Kier Darby, and currently, it's been open around 12hrs and has 2000+ posts and 200+ members. I think it's safe to assume that all of these members are from vBulletin or IPB forums, and have an interest in running the product. The product has currently received a very very positive reception from these formerly disgruntled customers of vBulletin/IPB, which is good in itself, however I feel that it is missing some core features, and I'm personally keeping a list of all the things I'm seeing, and thinking "ooh, that'd be nice if we can do something like this with x, and something which works with y and z".
What also is making me cringe, is people are willing to jump into the product and fully support it without so much as a hint at the backend options, the plugin system, the templating system, etc. I see people on the official xenForo Community Forum with sigs like "xen
Here's what I've been posting on the plethora of forums which are currently hosting topics filled with people drooling after the software, people are claiming that it will be the vB/IPB killer, I guess only time will tell.
Don't count on every vB owner dropping their licenses and moving to xenForo. What most likely will happen is they will keep their exisiting boards on vB, and any new startups will be powered by xenForo.
I know that this blog post is seeming very negative, but I wanted it to seem that way, because I think it is important for others to see it from a different perspective, and not through the rose tinted glasses they're all wearing. In truth, I like xenForo, I've known about it since I found the Facebook group on June 20th, I saw it, informed a few select friends and then we all kept schtum and waited. Upon seeing this build, even at Alpha stages, I think that it will shape up to be a very fine product, but it'll take a while to beat vB or IPB, (no matter what the hyped up masses are saying on the company forums), though I think that in its current form it is beating free alternatives such as PHPBB and SMF hands down. I recognise that it's a huge achievement that Mike and Kier have done, but it still needs more work, and I believe that even they would agree with that.