xenForo updates

[Khaleal]

Hello guys!
As I can see, xenForo develpers didn't update it from February! Do you know something new about whats going on?!
Lets be honest, xF needs some improvements in the UI with some additional settings in the admin control panel. And of course that can not be done without the developers BTW, I don't think vBulletin would win the lawsuit. The software without continuose development and improvements will die.
For me, converting to xenforo is somehow risky since migrating to a software without updates and improvments will destroy it by the time, because other forums palaforms will update their stuff while xf is the samw without updates!
I would here from you guys, should I migrate to xF and accepting it like it is without updates?! Or just keeping my vB license and continue with it?

 

[FredC]

vB3 is EOL
vB4 apparently only recently became stable.
vB5 Connect is out therefore resources that used to go to vB4 are now on vB5..

I doubt we will be seeing many more significant updates to vB4 now that 5 has been released.. Maybe a couple generic goodwill updates in the interim, But vB5 is out and needs a ton of work so i suspect most if not all resources are now primarily focused on making connect actually connect to something.

Although i dont like that the Devs/Owners have gone silent im still putting my chips on XenForo over vB.. At least XF works out of the box. (and works well)

I have three vB licenses one is the vB4 suite i dont use any of them.. And frankly i wouldnt even feel right selling them for a fraction of the price i payed for them.

 

[Jake Bunce]

The last XF update was 3 months ago (1.1.3), not 7 months ago.

The next version is 1.2. There is currently no ETA. Development is effectively on hold due to the ill effects of the ongoing lawsuit. The trial date for the lawsuit is currently set for January 15, 2013. Gotta wait until the lawsuit is past before anything certain.

What features are you missing? There might be addons to satisfy your needs.

 

[Adam Howard]

I'd like to clarify something development isn't on hold.... The release is what technically is on hold. We've seen screen shots and have even been given details of 1.2, but no public release.

Which to me tells me that once this is over with, we'll be greeted with a fresh new version, which has had time to mature and be developed.

It will be very exciting indeed.

 

[Andrej]

I'd like to clarify something development isn't on hold.... The release is what technically is on hold. We've seen screen shots and have even been given details of 1.2, but no public release.

Don't be misleading, the only post about the 1.2 including ONE screenshot and a short update was posted here.

Unless I am missing something here.

 

[psTubble27]

I would here from you guys, should I migrate to xF and accepting it like it is without updates?! Or just keeping my vB license and continue with it?

Previously I would suggest to wait until the lawsuit is over and XF releases another version, and in the meanwhile stay with vb4 and wait for news. Now, however, we can see the future for the whole VB franchise, and isnt very bright indeed. So I mean, you can still sit on vb4 and wait for updates as before, but what's the use, now?

Is there a chance for remaining with the VB franchise (which is why you'd sit with your current vb4)? For many, many people, the answer is no. So basically, you're going to transition to XF anyway, sooner or later. if that's the case, and if your forum doesn't have very very particular requirements,, then transitioning now is imho a good option.

You'll be both sending a message to IB that Forum software is still very much needed by people, and supporting the XF devs with money, to help overcome the lawsuit.

 

[Adam Howard]

Don't be misleading, the only post about the 1.2 including ONE screenshot and a short update was posted here.

Unless I am missing something here.

Nothing misleading about it. If you follow the "tracker" (bug forum), you will notice things have been resolved in waves. The last wave being after the current 1.1.3 release. And of course there are those screen shots, followed with the last post made by the "higher ups".

You can't honestly believe that XenForo is sitting untouched, unchanged, and forgotten on someone's hard drive, do you?! They're fighting this case and not folding over or settling out, so they can continue to release XenForo. And logic tells us from what we have seen and what we do know... Development is on going (which was also stated). Which was followed by another statement of no ETA on release, it did not say no further development.

It's all there for all to see in black and white.

 

[Jake Bunce]

Don't be misleading, the only post about the 1.2 including ONE screenshot and a short update was posted here.

Unless I am missing something here.

Well yeah. There has been work done on 1.2 but it's not finished. We missed the first ETA of June 2012. Now there is no ETA. As of right now development is effectively on hold. That's what Ashley meant in the latest announcement when he said there is no ETA on 1.2, and also no ETA on more information. Basically lawsuit. It's a harsh reality and if that concerns a prospective buyer then that's legit. Gotta wait until after the trial to see any new information. In the meantime the current version (XenForo 1.1.3) is very viable and is being used by many large forums. And there is every reason to expect that XenForo will win the lawsuit when the time comes. Just a matter of time.

 

[Cory Booth]

In the meantime, we have brilliant coders continually spitting out wonderful addons that support anything missing in core.

 

[psTubble27]

And there is every reason to expect that XenForo will win the lawsuit when the time comes. Just a matter of time.

I wanted to reiterate what you said earlier, namely that it's possible the judge will dismiss it even before the court-date, because IB literally failed to provide even a single ounce of proof for their argument, and when they hired their own "expert" to compare XF's code, even he said that, heh, absolutely nothing was in common, so IB had to drop even that claim.

 

[Morgain]

Putting the various bits together this is what I see.

XF is without doubt the best forum software.
I've worked with e107, VB and IPB and there's no comparison. VB is expensive and unhelpful with a clogged design ... one could go on. IPB is a weak support community and constantly disrupts with small updates. I found designing MY forum MY WAY on either of those was very hard work.

The XF team affectionately known as KAM (Kier, Ashley, Mike) were the programmers behind VB when it was still good. They have slaved nonstop to make XF the best there is for over 2 years.
Two years is the toughest period for a new business and exhaustion hits as the third year starts - that means now. Plus the court case. But KAM have invested everything they have, everything they are, in their magnificent vision. It is vanishingly unlikely they will give up on it.
However they do need to gear down right now and just do the minimum for a max. of 4 months till the case is cleared. Meanwhile they are still doing support, there are excellent moderators, and a power community here to help with troubleshooting, design, addons.

The court case is a concern for all of us. To be honest when it first hit I ran away and hid for several months. It was a huge shock. But there are threads here with exact info about it and it's not nearly as bad as it puffs up to be. It's been handled very openly.
My understanding which I've seen others state, plus I have some High Court case experience, is that the judge wants to go through the procedures thoroughly to ensure there can be no dragged out appeals after the court date. What is slow now will be better later.
From the legal statements made the evidence against XF is either nonexistent or so flimsy as to be a joke. Except it's no joke how this pantomime case has harassed and drained KAM. But the IB/VB failure to produce proper statements for the judge (yes really) and their own witnesses making statements in XF favour (really really) does rather make it all look silly.
It is quite possible IB (VB) will settle out of court to save money on losing. That would be great as it would all be over sooner. But they may hang on to the bitter end.
January 15 2013. Exactly 4 months from today. 122 days.

As for improvements there's a good collection of addons including some for the admin side.
It's pretty easy to edit the templates to add small functions or block others.
Design is a wonderland and can be done easily.
There are coders ready to do more addons as you need them. Mostly not expensive, or free.

The community is the best support community I've known anywhere. Support is slower than it used to be because a couple of new mods took over a couple of months ago. But still answers - and good answers - in 2 - 20 hours is good going.

No one can decide for you. One thing that helps I think is that if something totally unexpected happens - KAM are in a car crash/ IB/VB produce a stinky rabbit from hat unexpectedly/ a new competitor appears that trounces XF (???? ok ok just trying to imagine all the most unlikely worst cases) - then there'll be a LOT of others - all of us - in the same boat.
There are already coders who do imports. They'll be offering rescue services in that case I have no doubt. Like I said this is a good community.

But easier for us to sound happy about it. We've made the choice and we know that having done so the probabilities are very high indeed 45we'll be fine.
I guess looking at say two transfers in a year (INTO XF then OUT of XF) is a daunting possibility even if an extremely unlikely worst case. Transferring IN to XF is easy. Our coders will help make OUT easy as well.

Sometimes a small risk is worth it. There aer a lot of powerful sites here who think so.
I think in your place I'd do the jump. Do you feel comfortable working with whatever you have now for another 4 months? That would be the 100% cautious no risk option.
It's your call.

 

[Brad L]

Xenforo is awesome but its future is in serious doubt. The smart move would be to wait until early 2013.

 

[David_]

The next version is 1.2. There is currently no ETA. Development is effectively on hold due to the ill effects of the ongoing lawsuit. The trial date for the lawsuit is currently set for January 15, 2013. Gotta wait until the lawsuit is past before anything certain.

So just wondering, whats the difference between "on hold" and "currently not being developed".

 

[Slavik]

So just wondering, whats the difference between "on hold" and "currently not being developed".

Nothing... however you look at it, it is best to assume the next update will most likely be after the trial.

 

[Jeremy P]

It has been stated by someone previously involved with the community that KAM have not been advised to stay quiet. Not to mention if it were that simple, they could simply say so, and not have much anything to lose. They are deliberately stalling and refraining from saying much, I'd wager because it's simply not good business for them to come out and say "development has stopped."

 

[Pereira]

Don't be misleading, the only post about the 1.2 including ONE screenshot and a short update was posted here.

Unless I am missing something here.

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/like-importer-doesnt-rebuild-serialized-data.29888/#post-375412

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/likes-dont-update-after-username-change.23893/#post-375874

 

[psTubble27]

It has been stated by someone previously involved with the community that KAM have not been advised to stay quiet. Not to mention if it were that simple, they could simply say so, and not have much anything to lose. They are deliberately stalling and refraining from saying much, I'd wager because it's simply not good business for them to come out and say "development has stopped."

Insofar as I know, the only ones who've said that were people like Brogan, whose sole goal seems to have been to badmouth xf and undermine morale wherever possible. We simply don't know.

And, It wasn't bad business to say that "development had been put on hold": they went and directly said that in Ashley's last statement.

 

[Rodrigo Farcas]

Hello!
I'd like to point to potential customers: We are migrating our 6 old vb 3.8's to a large development we've been doing based on XF since february.
I had also tried inthe past IPB, vB, Vanilla, Phpbb, W.E. is there.
XF is the right tool to go. No matter what happens in January, the current product is as modular and well written you could expect

 

[Jeremy P]

Insofar as I know, the only ones who've said that were people like Brogan, whose sole goal seems to have been to badmouth xf and undermine morale wherever possible. We simply don't know.

And, It wasn't bad business to say that "development had been put on hold": they went and directly said that in Ashley's last statement.

You're free to believe what ever you want. I'd consider what Brogan's motive might be for 'badmouthing' XF. In his own words it's because XenForo is lying and deceiving customers, which seems reasonable to me.

Also please note that while Ashley in a round-about way said development was on hold in the last announcement, that the toll of the lawsuit was causing strain with XenForo Ltd. long before they cared to admit it to customers. Why did they hold off so long? There has certainly been news over the course of this year that they still haven't reported officially.

I guess what I should have said was 'it seems to me XF considered it bad business'.

To be clear, I am a huge fan of XF. I will sooner write my own solution from scratch than switch to IPB or vB or another platform. I expect that they will overcome this court case and try to recover from the issues it has presented, and I will use XF until I am left with no other choice, and you will not hear me complain once about waiting on the lawsuit.. but I am not blind. They are almost certainly keeping some information from customers.

 

[Morgain]

To me personally as new member here (if my words even mean anything to anyone lmao), finding these things out, doesn't make me think badly of the company or the development team at all. To me, it's not "bad business" either... They obviously have alot on their plate and until trial is over with, it's probably for the best that things are on hold. Once trial is done with, there should be no speed bumps, no other b.s. to prevent them from knocking things out and going full boar again. It's only a few months a way anyway.. It's not like the XF software is in dire need of "fixing", this isn't vBulletin here.. lmfao. Patience is virtue. lol. I love this place, I love the community, I love the software. I'm 100% for their success regardless of out-come of trial too... I honestly wasn't fanboi of any forum software before, but could probably finally say that I am now... for XF.. xD just hope people like me here, and accept me though.. LOL

Don't worry you're accepted. Anyone polite friendly and enthusiastic like you is very welcome.
Agree with your post 100%.

I think the KAM team feel they HAVE made a statement in Ashley's last one. Which was only end of August after all.
He said that basic support was still available from the team so XF has NOT "stopped" plus all the development by the community.
What is put on hold is a definite date for the next stage of XF core development BECAUSE they need to concentrate on the court case and all the personal stress that generates.
Given how dedicated they are, and given that serious coding needs quiet concentration without an overstressed brain and, without major distractions, this is a wise decision. New coding under these conditions could easily be less than their usual high standard.

I don't agree that that one statement is enough though and I wrote to Ashley to say so. The issue is not really a rational one it's human psychology. Having run communities online and offline for 35 years I know people need CONTACT and repetition during stress periods. Additionally, as I train my teachers and trainers, what you say three times is heard. What is said once dissolves in the wind.

I therefore advised that to calm the gossip and make the information clear and solid, the same statement needs to be re posted every 2 weeks saying much the same thing. The simple fact of one of the team being seen to act, making an announcement of reassurance, would have tremendous value.
That said I can appreciate that to those in the thick of "important business" which is after all the big struggle that matters to safeguard XF, tediously repeating the same announcement might look ridiculous and unnecessary.
To them it looks like it's been SAID it's right there. To us what we notice is their absence. But then we're not at the sharp end.