Vanilla 2 timeline & status

bobtheman

i disagree with premium themes, and i think the opensource community will reward those that support the same efforts and goals that we do and free opensource themes will be preferred. In the long run theming will be a major contributor to the success of VF, users want a custom experience and every site that runs VF cant look the same.

@shah2010
I like the idea of freedom. Why pay for things you may not want or need. Choice is key. cost is another discussion.

I hope the custom domains become more automated.

I would think that an opportunity for VF for income would be corporate accounts for support and maintenance. IE mozzilla using vf for a forums solution would pay VF to setup, customize, and maintain their setup because we offer an advantage over them doing it themselves.

and, we should look to incorporate the large and growing trend of online social gaming. This is where its at. Mafia wars, erepublik .... i could go on and on

Linc

@bobtheman Premium themes? I think you're confusing the hosted .com service with the software. Distributing a theme for pay is generally impractical because of the GPL.

bobtheman

@Lincoln
i was referring to @shah2010 statement, and income ops... on the VF roadmap page http://vanillaforums.org/page/ProductRoadMap it talks about two new themes, and on vf.com it talks about premium themes... im not fond of premium themes and your right... we are protected by the GPL

MatthewAlan

@shah2010 So your saying that everyone that downloads vanilla should pay a $10.00 'keep us up' fee? Correct me if I have misunderstood that. That seems really impractical. My favorite thing about vanilla is being able to download it when ever, and know that I have a fantastic forum to use.

sagar

@Lincoln, I am sorry I didn't mean anything personal, I mean there are clear indications that focus has shifted

@Mark unfortunately however you want to assure your commitment towards opensource (and I am not doubting your commitment) but I am not sure recent actions of the company show the same thing.

It is clear that focus has been shifted from getting V2 out to get VF.com stable First may be temporarily but for all the users (like me) who want to use the script on "their" own sites are left high and dry with no word on timeline what so ever.

I think you guys are trying to work out Wordpress model, but remember wordpress is popular is because they show real dedication to the community and I have not seen any feature launched on wp.com and then to opensource wp.org Its always been other way round. Even the script they use to run wp.com (WP MU) was released first to the community.

I hope you guys don't annoy faithful followers to much in your endeavorer to get $$ from vf.com

luc

@sagar: check out current github, and one forum from vf.com, and you would see that the github version is more advanced.

That's only natural, paying customers want a stable and easy to use set up, hence the test and debugging is done on the community "release", as it's done by wp.

The timeline was said to Oct. 09, and it shifted, and shifted. So, now, instead of predicting a date, it's "when it is finished". They already gave a tentative release date, and they let people down, they just don't want that anymore.

So, either you could use the current github version and update on the go and fixes the bugs you found, or you go and use vanilla1 or some other software.


As @[-Stash-] said, they got to live first, and earn their living.

MatthewAlan

I personally don't see anything wrong with having VF.com a top priority. As you can see from the support, and everything else, it's clear that VF.com isn't the only thing on the agenda.

Also, I'd rather not know a release date, than be disappointed if that date is passed. I think it's much easier to just let the community try out vanilla, post bugs, and help move to development process along.

You can't rush good things... Plain and simple.

Stash

@Sagar

I hope you guys don't annoy faithful followers to much in your endeavorer to get $$ from vf.com

I simply don't understand this attitude.

I personally appreciate the time and energy that @Mark, @Todd and the hundreds of plugin authors have put into making Vanilla 1 and 2 great. Sure, Vanilla 2's not ready for prime time yet, and you *could* argue that vanillaforums.com is slowing down the release date of Vanilla 2, but I think you'd be wrong.

Specifically because @Mark and @Todd are trying to build a business on vanillaforums.com they have been able to secure funding to allow them to concentrate 100% on developing Vanilla 2 - if anything, I would argue that this is helping speed up the release of Vanilla 2, not the opposite.

Don't forget that because of vanillaforums.com we should end up with commercially developed software that we can use without having to pay a penny if we so desire. For this alone I would like to thank the generosity of all those mentioned above and look forward to a final release of Vanilla 2 when it's ready.

And now it's time to remove myself from this discussion as I think I may be diametrically opposed to some of the opinions herein =D

bobtheman

@[-Stash-] arrggg name completion lol
i applaud you generosity and kind words. I agree with your statements in general and understand the importance of vf.com to fund the projects future.

I believe you have hit the nail on the head. VF.com if anything, has allowed the core developers to devote more time to creating VF not less. And, might i add, vf.com and vf.org are the same product so the order in which its developed is irrelevant.

vf.com features would be released in github and to the community on vf.org for testing first anyways.

Mark

Thanks to everyone for their comments, kudos, and even criticism in this discussion. We've given it a lot of thought, and we would like to continue the discussion here.