Everything is a remix: why Xenforo didn't copy vBulletin

Contributing to the months-old thread bump here... :D

dutchbb said:
Regardless, I don't see how anyone could argue XenForo stole ideas from vB. There is nothing unique about vB that makes it different from other forum software. It's like saying a new bicycle shop called X stole the idea of selling bicycles from bicycle shop Y while all other bicycle shops Z do the exact same thing.
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My old comparison really holds true, even more so: IB suing XF over a forum system is like Ford suing GM for manufacturing an automobile. Both parties do things differently and have their own style, but they all function pretty much the same way. I think this was already proven as part of the lawsuit in fact: some parts of forum systems are (for lack of a better term) generic. Like a car has four tires, a steering wheel and an engine, a forum has threads, replies and a member list. It's how each company presents their product that makes the difference.
 
Yeah, BB4 has copied a lot from XF. But it's still a mix as it also has a lot of functions that XF lacks. Including tags, wiki, a framework to build your own stuff, blog, friends, groups, newsletter, widgets, API, support tickets, gallery, calendar, etc. Woltlab is a bigger company with more devs and they are effectively pumping out a suite of modern, solid software.

I think this is great because it turns up the heat quite a notch. XenForo will have to up its game to compete with IPS Suite 4 and Burning Board 4.
 
I'd rather not have an "all in one" suite package. It brings to mind a system that does many things average, but does no single thing well. Just like one of those office multifunction machines: they are mediocre as a printer, copier, scanner and fax machine, doing no single thing well. Let a forum company focus on developing forum software. If I need a blog or wiki, I'll go to those products that specialize in it.
 
I think only vbulletin is stupid enough to offer an all in one suite. All other providers offer a modular suite where you can buy only the products you need. The same as how XenForo offers the RM and ES separate from the forum software.
 
My own personal view is that WBB will never pick up the same traction as other natively-english based solutions.
 
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Rudy said:
I'd rather not have an "all in one" suite package. It brings to mind a system that does many things average, but does no single thing well. Just like one of those office multifunction machines: they are mediocre as a printer, copier, scanner and fax machine, doing no single thing well. Let a forum company focus on developing forum software. If I need a blog or wiki, I'll go to those products that specialize in it.
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Unfortunately, some of us that have needed more than 'just' a forum have found trying to integrate individual/specialized software tedious, convoluted and in some cases, an exercise in futility.
My contention has always been that a forum is merely a content management system with a focused (and in some cases fairly restrictive) presentation layer. The data exists in the database, why not allow it to be presented in a variety of ways?
 
Digital Doctor said:
It'll be interesting if WBB picks up marketshare in the next year.
In the english world, they are close to starting from scratch.
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One thing I really like about WBB 4.0 (I just downloaded the BETA and installed on my development server) is the way they do below the editor for the polls, smilies, etc. Separate tabs with the options below them.
screenshot.webp
 
The only thing I love about WBB4 design is the fades on hovers. Those are nice touches - I've seen them implemented on vB4 via modification - Woltlab seems to be implementing it as stock. :)
 
Tracy Perry said:
One thing I really like about WBB 4.0 (I just downloaded the BETA and installed on my development server) is the way they do below the editor for the polls, smilies, etc. Separate tabs with the options below them.
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That's how Community Server does it as well.
http://telligent.com/social-community-software/

I find it odd that every new thread in vBulletin can be a Poll. Xenforo used the same design. Now wBB has copied it as well. Putting the Poll stuff over to a Tab does clear things up a bit.

On Xenforo.com there are 632,489 posts. Probably no more than 150 polls. It doesn't make sense to give prime real estate for something that isn't used very often.
 
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