'eh i just use a simple redirect in an index.php page for the one site i need that on

All in due time. The whole portal is very functional for it's initial design. Future versions will bring more website integration. It is still by far in my opinion the best out there and the most flexible. The admin is 2nd to none as everyone is pointing out, Custom Islands, both admin and user portal control , post islands, Shoutbox (This feature just gets hammered all day and night long on my site.. it's a hit feature).. There is lots to be had. I have been a ubb customer since 1998 back when they were perl boards.

With version 7 and the latest technology refresh that took place with AJAX and other programming methods, they are leading edge by design. I have purchased other products in the past too but they are shelfware now. You're right, all others I have seen as well do look Boxy, squared off and plain by design. There is no turning back here. I am hooked... Totally worth the investment. I have renewed my user license every year since my initial purchase.

You know what I tell people who even contemplate moving to another product? I tell them to sell me their licesne, because if they're a fool enough to think the support elsewhere will be anywhere as good, they'll be crawling back soon ;)...

Is it possible to change smilies of UBB..the one thing which I really did not like is the default smilies I see here.

Yes, these are called Graemlins. You can add new ones via the Control Panel, including the codes used to 'call' them (like for ). You can also replace the standard smilies the old-fashioned way, i.e. by simply replacing the graphics files.

Yes you can change smilies, gremlins, forum icons and news icons from the main console. Something we have been boasting about

I've dealt with a lot of companies over the years and I can tell you without a doubt that this is the best customer service that I've ever received. That alone is worth the price difference to me. I did what gizmo suggested, started out with the standard license and moved up to the gold licence once they won me over.

I will soon have to pay IP/Groupee some money I am still on the time paid to cwsoft

My host (which is quite reputable host) has adviced avoiding UBB. As per host UBB is very resource heavy at least for shared hosting accounts

Could any obe give me an honest feedback?

I'd bet a pretty penny that they were refering to UBB.classic. .classic has that reputation as it used flat files to store everything and was quite resource intensive. UBB.threads is very resource friendly, similar to other MySQL/PHP driven forums. With the caching we are doing it's one of the most resource friendly forums available.