On January 1st 2010, Mindraven has acquired UBB.threads. While the main differences you'll see will be lower prices and more developers, we'll explain the changes below.

Who is Mindraven?

Mindraven, formed in 1997, was originally known as Wired Community Software. At this time, it was just a 1 man business formed by myself. My company originally created WWWThreads, which was sold to Infopop in 2001 and renamed to UBB.threads. Over the past 9 years I've been directly involved with UBB.threads as the primary developer and I'd like to thank everyone at Groupee for a great relationship during that time.

Now, things have come full circle, with regaining the rights to UBB.threads again, we're increasing our staff to really push the envelope in community software.


What does it mean to our current customers?

A couple things here. You'll be seeing some new faces around for starters. We'll have a couple more developers and support people around. I'll still be the lead developer as I have been for the past 12 years now, but we'll have others assisting to speed up the process. We'll introduce the new people in the coming days as they've been tied up assisting with the overall transition over the past couple months.

If you had a Gold License under Groupee, it will still be valid and you'll have lifetime access to both the Ticket System and Members Area.

Also, there is no more advanced support, which used to require payment. As long as you have current members area access you'll be able to use our support ticket system and we will assist with your issues at no charge as long as the issue isn't related to a modification. If you don't have current members area access you'll always be able to use our support forums.

Additionally, due to the lower prices, if you've purchased a new license or Members Area renewal within the last 3 months, we'll be giving you an additional 3 months on your current Members Area access free of charge. We've known about the transition during that time-frame, but due to the nature of business agreements, we were unable to disclose the information concerning the price drop.


What does it mean to new/prospective customers?

Anyone considering using or coming back to UBB can be assured that you'll be purchasing a product with a long, proven history that will be around for many years to come.

Also, with our new price structure, we're one of the most affordable commercial forum products available, and purchasing a UBB license gives you access to the entire "suite" as our competitors refer to it. You don't need to buy a forum license, and a blog license and a gallery license. You buy 1 license and you'll have access to everything.


What is the new price structure?

The price of a single license has dropped from $199 down to $139, and there are discounts available when you purchase multiple licenses. The license is still an indefinite software license and comes with 1 year of Members Area access. If you already own a couple licenses and purchase more, your existing licenses will qualify for the multi-license discount as long as the Members Area access is current.

The price of a 1 year Members Area renewal has dropped from $99 to $59. There are discounts available if you renew for more than 1 year or if you renew multiple licenses at the same time.

Members area renewal is available to anyone that owns a WWWThreads, UltimateBB, UBB.classic or UBB.threads license, even if you purchased it back in 1997 and haven't used it in years.

All other prices have dropped as well, including installations, upgrades, etc. You can find all of the info on our Pricing & Order page.


Does this impact Version 8 at all?

Yes, and in a good way. With more developers, progress will be much faster. Also, we'll now be placing a high priority on the "look" of UBB. It's one thing that has always been lacking, but that will no longer be the case. Once version 8 is closer to completion, we'll be looking for a few professional skin designers to assist in that area. If you are, or know of, a professional skin designer, for any product you can contact me directly via PM and I'll explain a bit about what we'll be offering.

Our goal is for version 8 to put the "Ultimate" back in to UBB. Current Changelog for Version 8 can be found here.


Any other Major Changes?

Our overall product name will be UBB. The forums will always be UBB.threads, the gallery will be UBB.gallery and the blogs ,which will be coming in version 8, will be UBB.blogs. Just remember, when you buy a license you get access to our entire "suite", there are no extra costs involved.

The Members Area and Support Area have changed a bit. You'll log into both with your forum username/password. From there you can attach all of your licenses to that login. We do this, so it's easy to track all of your support tickets as well as offer you the proper discounts on any orders.


Is that It?

There is now a toll free number available, 1-888-99-MYUBB, for any sales related questions. We'll still be handling all of our support through our ticketing system and the forums at this time, but may offer phone support depending on demand.


Anything else?
I almost forgot. In celebration of this announcement, we're offering a 10% discount on the 1st 100 orders placed. This applies to new licenses, members area renewals, installations, etc. This 10% discount will be in addition to any other discounts you qualify for. Just enter the code MINDRAVEN in the coupon code section when filling out your order.


Thanks for reading. I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year! If you'd like to discuss this announcement, you can do so here.