I sat and rewrote all the permissions for what can and cant be accessed by anyone but me. Even with full CP access you can not change the settings of the site unless your member number is set as the sites master admin.

Something I thought was missed by Rick when the CP was designed, built, and added upon many times over.

Well you can change the settings of the site as a moderator with cp access.
I just did it and changed the DB name and broke it.
Using v7.5.3

right but I had rewrote all that so if your not the master admin you cant change anything that will break the site.

I don't use the 7.5.3 as it has to many problems that were not resolved and expected to be resolved in 8.0

To me that is just a way to suck more money from my pocket. You should never close a version unless there is absolutely no bugs or problems existing. Unless your Microsoft.

Well, 8.0 was to be the next in the v7 but then changes needed to the CP and UI that've been requested since v7 started started getting added and required a major revision...

So your saying that the need for version 8 is more necessary then finalizing version 7?

What can be so seriously needed in version 8 over actually finishing and completing version 7?

I just do not see the point other then thinking that if the members actually want it to work as it was actually intended then they may have to update their renewal at $99 bucks a pop. That's sad man, seriously.

Even Microsoft still fixes bugs and releases updates in previous versions over a year past a new version release, or is InfoPop aka Groupee better then that?

v8 is just an upgrade; I think you're thinking too much into versioning... "finishing off" v7? v8 is still the same forum, just larger additions which will result in a major version adjustment...

Either way, if you intend to upgrade, regardless of if it's to v7 or v8 you'd need current member area access... It's how licenseware works...

What is that?

Well, with licenseware that the company sells licenses to that demand you renew your member area access; regardless of the version you want to upgrade to, you have to pay for the ability to download files.

So what are you trying to say, UBB is going to insist you constantly pay even if you do not want to upgrade anymore but want your crap to work properly?

Well, if you want to upgrade, you need member area access; the member area access is what you pay for... So yes, if you intend to upgrade you need to pay...

It works this way with plenty of scripts; in fact I believe we had a nag fit on this very topic about a year ago where several users included script providers which do the SAME thing...