How much do you think XenForo is worth? Not how much can you afford but what value do you think it has?
The quality of xenforo makes the software valuable - and Kier does it as if it is "second nature" to him... That's why the software was priced the way it is. In mere 24 hours he can fix xenforo bugs... At least most of them, and Mike does the same, its only in a few occasions that they ran into problems. This, in comparison to vBulletin's pace, and quality... Its a huge difference...Honestly, xenforo could be priced $200 if Kier Darby puts a lot of stock into his talents. But you and I shouldn't say that out loud to him to inspire him to make that move. We, as customers should be in line, keeping quiet... and don't speak about prices, because we should be glad we have the price the way it is... Otherwise, you're going to have to pay whatever they choose to make or raise to.
Lets say Microsoft charged $150 for each Windows sold (I'm not sure how much it was back in the 95/XP days so... keep that in mind) ....and one person thought it would be a great idea to suggest to Microsoft to charge $200 for Vista, and Microsoft goes for it. And then Microsoft makes an idea to make an all in one suite version, a premium version of it. Everyone is going like "Really now? You want a more expensive software?"
You ever wonder why Windows was the most pirated software on the face of the planet? You ever wonder why vBulletin was pirated so much? Back then, $150 was a lot of money for forum software. Now? $285 is the new "a lot of money." Thanks a lot for your suggestions, customers! *Two thumbs up* Great job.
My point is... that we should be grateful, and satisfied with what we have, rather than just ruining it for everyone else by saying "Kier should charge more for this!" That's my problem with customers like these, they don't feel grateful that companies like Jelsoft and xenForo charges less than the completion.
Let me put it in another way so that you can understand. You've heard of the PSN hacking, right? Sony included OtherOS to bring about "free" choice of doing whatever you wished on your own game consoles - provided that you do it in Sony's terms. You can do whatever is it that you want with your own PS3, but when you modify Sony's OS so that it's exploitable. Houston we've got a problem.
So, one day, one person thought it was a good idea to bust open the OtherOS feature, and then gets taken away by Sony themselves...Now hundreds, thousands of gamers are angry because one little hacker thought it was smart to ruin it for everyone else.
What's the upper limit you'd pay before deciding you'd rather use phpbb or something free?
$100.
The only reason why I purchased xenForo back during the first wave of the sales - the price tag! I bought three, count that, 3 licenses. So that means I spent $300 for Mr. Darby to bring me quality software!
I appreciate that not everyone can afford this but busy forums already costs hundreds if not thousands a month in hosting. It seems a little silly to then be cheap on the software you actually run which is the whole basis of your forum. Keeping the core cheap and charging for premium add-ons seems a fair compromise to me?
Let them worry about the advertising, and hosting stuff...You worry about the quality of your software. That's why you have the collective community to provide feedback, and so, that's iB's biggest disadvantage: They don't really listen to customers. But when they do that suggestion has to feed "their troll" I.E. the whole pricing strategy/suggestion.
As an aside, it was the drop in quality of VB that outraged people, more than the pricing.
Yes, and no. Part of the popularity of vBulletin in the first place: Price. Price. Annnd Price. Granted, it was a very powerful little machine - script if you will - but damn it was cheap and powerful. That combo is what will drive xenforo sales.
