Now with the sale of UBB.threads to Mindraven, I think we should talk about what UBB.threads has gone through during the Infopop/Groupee days.
WWWThreads was acquired by Infopop during a time when Infopop's original Perl-based Ultimate Bulletin Board (UBB) slowly began losing customers to PHP-based, database-driven competitors, chiefly vBulletin.
By acquiring WWWThreads, Infopop gained their own database-driven PHP forum solution. However, rather than keeping one solution, Infopop chose to keep and maintain two downloadable forum software packages: the Perl/flat file-based UBB.classic and the PHP/MySQL-based UBB.threads. This is where Infopop made their big mistake, as both products began to stagnate and continue to lose customers to the competition. Eventually, it became clear to Infopop that this strategy was unsuccessful. Had Infopop combined the two forum software packages into one PHP/MySQL forum software package right after the WWWThreads acquisition, we could have perhaps still have one of the leading forum software packages on the Web today.
Initially, Infopop planned on replacing both UBB.classic and UBB.threads with an all-new PHP/MySQL-based forum software package, however, UBB.classic developer Charles Capps left the company, thus snagging development of the new product. Eventually, it was decided that the planned product would end up being a new version of UBB.threads, Version 7.0.
With the sale of UBB.threads to Mindraven and plans to hire new developers, I think this was a great decision made. With vBulletin 4.0's higher prices, I think that UBB.threads 8.0 is the perfect chance for reviving a once thriving forum software package.
Anyone have their own opinions?
