XenForo 2.0 Discussion

[AndrewSimm]

This discussion is largely off topic for this thread, which is about XF2, not a comparison between XF and other companies.

I disagree, development time frame of XF 2 is relevant to XF 2, which means comparison

More devs does not always equal faster or better productivity. Especially given the highly dynamic working relationship that MK+D have.

Lets not also forget a good amount of resources each week goes on support and maintenance/bugfixing on the existing products, as well as having real lives and families!

Most companies hire contractors and pays those contractors to do a very specific part of the project. This can be done with high quality if managed correctly and relatively cheap with labor in India. You see major companies doing this on a daily basis and that industry is growing. For whatever reasons the XF team has decided not to do this. Essentially they are maintaining their maw and paw size staff while creating a product you would expect from a larger company. The only reason XF is able to do this is because of the affection most have for their dev's. Since they have elected to maintain their small size I really hope they are working 80 and 90 hours every week because that is what small businesses do.

In the end when a stable version is finally made available lets all hope it is one most deem worth the 3 year wait (which at this point looks like it will be)

Much love to the guys for what they do but eventually a timeframe should be announced. If the dev team is as good as most think think and they understand the scope of their project then saying something like "Summer 2016, Fall 2016, "EOY 2016" would seem reasonable.

From a consumer standpoint I have been waiting 1.5 years on a product that I don't even know if it will accomplish what I want it to. On the bright side it did force me to recode a portion of my site completely independent of VB since I knew I was going to stay with them. Longer term it gives me the flexibility to move my site to a different platform much more easily but I am ready to see something on XF 2 so I can decide what direction I need to go.

Last since Brogan wants this thread on the topic of XF 2 and not the company (sneaky you, I see how you guys roll). From a mobile perspective what clues do we have as far was which way XF is going with this and where it ranks on their list as far as importance. For myself it is number 1 and by a long shot. (assuming the message boards has the same characteristics as most other decent message boards)

 

[gmaister22]

Nonetheless any company thats getting bigger gets more staff, how many developers they were in vBulletin? How many developers are on IPB? 3?

IPB 4 was announced roughly the same time with XF 2...and IPB has not just one forum platform to rewrite, they have IP Photos, IP Nexus, IP Download, IP CMS etc...

XF has been very slow for just a forum software, thats the truth.

XF should and could come out a lot faster, but it needed more work faster, which leads to the fact that they should have hired 2-3 more developers...assign duties and everything would be alot faster...its that simple...

 

[drastic]

hopefully XFMG becomes the media manager so we can create media rich threads with pics/vids and not need an addon for it.

 

[Chris D]

IPB 4 was announced roughly the same time with XF 2...and IPB has not just one forum platform to rewrite, they have IP Photos, IP Nexus, IP Download, IP CMS etc...

IPS4 was announced in March 2012. XF2 was announced in July 2014.

IPS4 was released 3 years after it was announced in April 2015.

 

[Kairete]

In my opinion, it is not a feasible comparison.
IPB was born at a time when there was still mobile.
So xenForo must do a lot more work to adapt to the changes.

 

[Martok]

Most companies hire contractors and pays those contractors to do a very specific part of the project.

That's money that then goes elsewhere rather than to the developers with no guarantee that it will be recouped even with a price hike for XenForo 2.0

This can be done with high quality if managed correctly and relatively cheap with labor in India.

Management over distance plus the checking of code quality is an issue and would take time, which would be better spent on doing the programming themselves. I'm sure it's enough of a job for the 3 team coders working from different parts of the UK.

Since they have elected to maintain their small size I really hope they are working 80 and 90 hours every week because that is what small businesses do.

I seriously hope you don't think that. Working stupid hours like this will only lead to burnout. I hope they work hard in a sensible number of hours and have a family life like the rest of us.


XenForo 2.0 is likely to have only feature parity to the current XenForo 1.5.6 g the developers have already stated this is what they are aiming for. It's likely to be some time after 2.0 is released that we'll start to see lots of new goodies coming along. So really the question should be is XenForo good enough for you now. If so, then jump now to the current version. If it's not good enough and you want a lot of extra new stuff built into it, then you'll be waiting a long time, so you may be better sticking with vbulletin.


Personally I'd love to see XenForo 2.0 soon and lots of new features too. However I'm realistic and I'm happy to wait however long it takes for it to arrive. XenForo 1.5.6 is working perfectly well and I am confident that the developers will release XenForo 2.0 when it's ready. I'll have the knowledge that they know it is good quality code and an excellent platform to take us forward for the next few years.

 

[Jake B.]

IPB was born at a time when there was still mobile.

When there was still mobile? Mobile is still a thing, and the number of mobile users has surpassed the number of desktop users globally by a substantial amount.

 

[Kairete]

Sorry my error. When there WASN'T still mobile.

 

[Jake B.]

Sorry my error. When there WASN'T still mobile.

XF wasn't responsive until 1.2

 

[AndrewSimm]

That's money that then goes elsewhere rather than to the developers with no guarantee that it will be recouped even with a price hike for XenForo 2.0


Management over distance plus the checking of code quality is an issue and would take time, which would be better spent on doing the programming themselves. I'm sure it's enough of a job for the 3 team coders working from different parts of the UK.


I seriously hope you don't think that. Working stupid hours like this will only lead to burnout. I hope they work hard in a sensible number of hours and have a family life like the rest of us.


XenForo 2.0 is likely to have only feature parity to the current XenForo 1.5.6 g the developers have already stated this is what they are aiming for. It's likely to be some time after 2.0 is released that we'll start to see lots of new goodies coming along. So really the question should be is XenForo good enough for you now. If so, then jump now to the current version. If it's not good enough and you want a lot of extra new stuff built into it, then you'll be waiting a long time, so you may be better sticking with vbulletin.


Personally I'd love to see XenForo 2.0 soon and lots of new features too. However I'm realistic and I'm happy to wait however long it takes for it to arrive. XenForo 1.5.6 is working perfectly well and I am confident that the developers will release XenForo 2.0 when it's ready. I'll have the knowledge that they know it is good quality code and an excellent platform to take us forward for the next few years.

I disagree over your assessment of code quality and checking codes. Large companies do this and do it very effective. My wife is a technology consultant and her company employs thousands of overseas programmers and the company she works for is worth billions. It all comes down do you want to code or do you want to be the boss.

Yes I was serious about working long hours. In a small business that is what you do to maintain your competitive advantage over your opponents. At some point some other quality programmers are going to come along and come out with some forum software of their own and when they do XF needs to be competitive. The winner is usually the company that has quantity and quality.

Last it wouldn't make sense for me to spend the next 6 to 9 months rewriting and styling my site for XF 1.5 when my hope is XF 2 offers something much more. Users hate change and when I switched to XF 1.4 on one of my sites they let me know (so I switched back). I understand what it takes for my users to accept XF and it is going to take me anywhere from 6 to 9 months to get there. At the end of the day all that matters is what my users think of the product and not what I think or else both my sites would be running XF 1.5 right now.

 

[Paul B]

Users hate change and when I switched to XF 1.4 on one of my sites they let me know (so I switched back).

Presumably that was using someone else's license?

 

[AndrewSimm]

Presumably that was using someone else's license?

Forgive me it was 1.2 (I think my license ran through 1.3 timeframe but I never gave them that option). Regardless they didn't like the feel of it and the little customizations I had made in VB will need to be made in XF so they don't murder me again) The point is I have work to do after a release to satisfy a user base that wants certain things in certain places.

BTW your remark which indirectly accuses me of pirating is not very cool.

edit: added screenshot
edit2: If you are bouncing my forum email off of a list of licensed users you should try @icloud.com since that is what my XF license is registered under. (@me.com = @icloud.com)

 

[Fred.]

hopefully XFMG becomes the media manager so we can create media rich threads with pics/vids and not need an addon for it.

I like the idea, that would be cool.

 

[Amaury]

BTW your remark which indirectly accuses me of pirating is not very cool.

He was making a presumption, not stating a fact. Two different things.

 

[Mike Edge]

BTW your remark which indirectly accuses me of pirating is not very cool.

He wasn't accusing you of pirating.. You 1st said 1.4, which the license you showed in your screenshot would have expired before 1.4.

 

[wang]

I fully agree with @AndrewSimm. Xenforo can not accomplish much with only 2 developers in my opinion. At least not in a way as to keep up with its competitors. With developing of a major version like 2.0, which will require a lot of code rewrite, a few extra hands on board are needed to speed up the process.

 

[Jake B.]

Xenforo can not accomplish much with only 2 developers in my opinion.

2?

a few extra hands on board are needed to speed up the process.

Honestly it's probably not your place to tell them how to run their business, or what they 'need' to do

 

[wang]

2?


Honestly it's probably not your place to tell them how to run their business, or what they 'need' to do

There is no need for hostilities sir. I did not tell anyone how to run their business. I merely stated my opinion. Like you and other members have done too.

 

[Martok]

Xenforo can not accomplish much with only 2 developers in my opinion.

There are 3 XenForo developers - Mike, Kier and Chris.

I'd have to disagree with your opinion.

 

[Kairete]

2?


Honestly it's probably not your place to tell them how to run their business, or what they 'need' to do

Yes, it's our place.
Because we are customers and the customer is ever on right.
Customer is the king.
So it's convenience of Xenforo's staff listen their customers.
If they want continue to live in the business, of course.