The final version will still be in the members area. And if there are any bugs that are found I will be fixing these and the release will be updated.

I myself have no problem with the Perl/PHP debate, as it wont really affect me other than in the good way... I am still using the perl version, but just because I havent had time to switch and upgrade yet (still on version 5.2).<br /><br />But, I would suggest, in view of those who will not be able to run the php version (surprised there are still hosting companies that provide perl but not php...) that though development of the Perl version not be continued... there still be bug fixes. I think it would be a correct thing to do, to though not adding features, fix all bugs that are discovered... I think by doing so you could feel more at peace in saying goodbye to the Perl version.

For those that will be wanting to switch over to the PHP version you won't lose any data. Basically you can upgrade your PERL version to the latest 5.4.4 PERL release and then grab the PHP version. You can then setup and point the PHP version to your old database and you are good to go.

Rick,<br /><br />Well I guess I am gone then... I am sorry but you all saying PHP is better then PERL... Well Everything I do for a living and make a pretty damn good money at... I do everything in PERL due to the ability to be implement on multiple platforms and the ease of use... I have found MANY issues with PHP that it cant do... So... since you all are telling us Perl people to go f ourselfs... I am gone... Sorry to hear this... Even after I offered my help... Sad...<br /><br />Billy S.

Hi all<br />its really bad news to hear that will go only with php [sad]<br /><blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>Like I said it is going to allow me to do alot of things that I wouldn't be able to do in PERL<p><hr></blockquote><p><br /><br />Why ? I learned both of Perl and PHP .. I found Perl is more more better than PHP .. Perl can do anything that PHP can do .<br />maybe PHP is easier to develope in .. but it has less powerful then perl <br />Don't forget that there is a lots of modules can help you in adding features .. like CGI module (you don't have to write your own function for get inputs or cookies or to write cookies) CGI module is standard module (come with all last Perl packages) and its make the programming funny and easy []/testimages/icons/smile.gif[/]<br /><br />Anyhow ... this is your product .. but a lots of customers will leave WWWThreads for that reason <br />Its up to you .. you choose Lots of Customers or PHP []/testimages/icons/wink.gif[/]<br /><br />With me best Regards<br />eDeveloper <br />

The thing is, I cannot rely on a variety of modules. A good majority of users don't have the experience/knowledge to install modules or they are not on a host that will install them. The CGI module is quite powerful but it is very big as well. Back when I first went commercial there was an offshoot of the GPL'd code that ported everything over to using CGI.pm. Eventually they had to pull this out because it started to bog down heavily on moderate traffic.<br /><br />By no means am I saying PERL is not good enough. I still develop many of programs at work in PERL where I have control of the environment, but on a broadscale basis PHP doesn't require anything extra to be installed.

What I would like to know is...<br /><br />If one has purchased a copy of wwwthreads - is the annual renewal cost going to rocket under UBB.<br /><br />I mean UBB annual cost is four times what wwwthreads is.<br /><br />Your answer will be - the prices will be announced by Wednesday - but we need guarantees here...<br /><br />Call me sceptical, but I think the prices will double, if not quadrouple under ubb - i would like to be proved wrong, but UBB have always come accross as greedy on pricing.<br /><br />Also - UBB is one of the most pirated pieces of software out there (after win2000!!) - are we going to see wwwthreads going the same way?<br /><br />There must be a reason why such short notice was given, perhaps UBB do not want to many UBB forum users switching over before the move.<br /><br />Let's have some honest answers.<br /><br />What I have read here so far, is nothing but disgraceful to all the wwwthreads users, who have remained loyal.<br /><br />

Very sad indeed!!!!I won't have any possibility to continue changing our old forums to wwwthreads, which I chose to be the best. I don't have PHP, I don't have time to learn it. I have used very much money for Wwwthreads allready and just for vain....I hope gossamer-threads gforum will be the answer. They won't at least change from perl to php in one night.Lauri

I'm not going to try to answer for Rick but I am going to answer from the point of view of a long-time user of WWWThreads and from the point of view of someone whose contributions have been included in the official version.<br /><br />If you are woried about the annual renewal costs, renew for 10 years now before Infopop take over. I'm sure that in 10 years there will be a better solution so you'll be safe until then.<br /><br />If WWWThreads becomes heavilly pirated then does that affect you beyond the fact that you have paid for your original version and any upgrades? Are you loosing money?<br /><br />Have you considered the fact that maybe Rick gets very little income from this software. Do you know how many registered users there are? Do you know how many people renew their licenses each year? Perhaps the choice was between doing a deal or simply packing this in. Would that have been better?<br /><br />In all honesty, if Rick said, "Fine, I'll make you all happy and not do the deal with Infopop. Oh yes, instead I'm going to stop developing WWWThreads. Bye.", I wouldn't blame him. You own your copy of WWWThreads. You can use your existing version, and any upgraded version obtained whilst you still have a license to download it for as long as you want. UBB users cannot. New WWWThreads users may not be able to. You can. Think about that and be thankful that, whatever might happen on Thursday, you can still use your existing version and hack it to your heart's content. Be thankful that Rick and WWWThreads are not simply disappearing.

I understand that a new forum will be set up tomorrow. What will happen with the content of this forum (ie. q&a, hacks, bugs, feedback, installation whishlist and so on)? Could it be imported directly into the new forum? Also there may be things of general interest here that may not be suitable there -- so could they be kept as closed/archived threads anyway?<br /><br /><br />PS. I don't remember seeing any mention of the software that will power the new forums but I presume it will be w3t, right?

The actual switch is going to take place on Thursday. I'm not sure about which forums will be imported over to the new site. I believe the customizing/hack forums will go over to the new dev site. As for what software it will be running I belive they are moving everything over to OpenTopic. Instead of having to check a bunch of different forums it allows everyone to focus on one area. For support reasons it makes sense. There will be a demo board up for testing and that I should be able to do betas on as well. But again, some of this is speculation. I'm not sure on all of the details just yet.

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr><p>As for what software it will be running I belive they are moving everything over to OpenTopic.<p><hr></blockquote><br />Yikes! I'm sorry to be critical Rick, but that's about the craziest thing I've seen on the W3T boards today. Nearly 100% of the people going to the W3T support forums will be experienced with using W3T, and very few of them will be experienced with OpenTopic. Why force them to use something they're not comfortable with? OK, maybe the InfoPop support people are more comfortable with OpenTopic, but shouldn't they spend some real time using W3T so that they know what they're supporting? What will potential customers think when they see that W3T isn't used for its own support forum? It makes it look like the vendor doesn't believe the software is up to the task.

The support staff will be installing and using the forums so they get to know it. No need to apologize for being critical, it does seem a bit odd, but it's similar to other companies. Most companies do all their support on one forum instead of setting up a different forum for each product. Infopop is in a unique situation that they have 3 different forum products now. It makes it easy to go to one place to post your questions and answers.<br /><br />I know, throw more fuel on the fire[]/testimages/icons/laugh.gif[/], but again let's see how this works out.

Sad to hear the PERL version will not be continued. Sad may be not the right word for this situation... I started to learn PERL because of this forum, because of w3t. I bought books, spent nights to understand the code, make smaller changes and implement existing hacks from other users. My forum has got a lot of modifications, too. And I don't want to think about the time I need to switch over to PHP []/testimages/icons/frown.gif[/]. It may take me several months to complete this task, because I'm not familiar with PHP and I'm only able to do it in my free time.<br />And after all the effort it takes, the result will not be seen from the user. It's just the same forum as before, nothing has changed. All this only to keep up with the future features? Unwillingly...<br /><br />PS: Anybody interested in a very good PERL-book (german, addison-wesley)?

I sure hope the file attachment bug is worked out in the php version (if it has been fixed, the help pages need to be updated in the win2000 section). I'm currently using the perl version, just got file attachments working, and the visitors love it... I have alot of reservations about the change. I've spent the past few days going over infopops site...It's very cold and unfriendly. I checked out the pricing and was shocked!! I can't afford that type of pricing! UBB is on sale now for $125 (normally $249 []/testimages/icons/shocked.gif[/]). And that is for an Individual/Fledgling (0-4) organization????!!? What is that exactly?<br /><br />Judging soley on their silence and avoidance of the price change issue, I'll quote Han solo..."I've got a bad feeling about this..."<br /><br />I guess we'll know soon enough...

New licenses only or will this also apply to new renewals also which would then kill the old terms? Makes a big difference, of course I am not sure how it will effect me at this point as I don't have php installed on any of the boxes so it is a mute point at present. In addition, my programmer does not know php at this point.

At first I was happy about this, then I remembered something<br /><br />I got banned from the infopop forums after posting details of a bug in the support forums. Bit stupid if you ask me, I asked for some help with a problem I was having, my message got deleted and I got an email saying that there had been warnings about what I had posted before (yet a search revealed none, a mod later admited that they had been deleted) and that I was being banned for posting details of a bug that could cause damage to customers boards. Here was a bug that I knew nothing about, as administrator of a board I like to know these things, one of my users knew about it and had done a fair bit of damage with it, the solution was simple and explained in the email but, the damage had already been done. This got me thinking, how many more bugs was there out there that I didnt know about, and I decided to go to wwwthread boards instead as they seemed to have a more open community rather than ban first ask questions later. Now the support is going to be infopop, ok so I havent really needed much support but it was nice to know that it was there if i needed it, now thats been taken away from me []/testimages/icons/frown.gif[/]<br /><br />On the pluys side, I think this is going to be good, wwwthreads has needed a good rewrite and I think you are now going to have the time to do that, the decission to drop perl is going to be controversial but for those of us who use PHP its great news, I think good days are ahead of ubbthreads, thats if infopop dont over price it

<br />Yes that is also my impression.<br />These people make me really concerned with their price-policy.<br />I am not Daimler Crysler. :)<br />

Yes ..... it's realy sad to hear about perl version ..... <br /><br />I have bought a special script (chat) around 160 US$ ... just to make it work for wwwthreads as integrated with the W3Tusers ... and i hacked it to work with mysql ..... and it have more then 15 perl files .... []/testimages/icons/frown.gif[/] .....but i am sure that it will not work with PHP version ..... realy sad about this ...... <br /><br />any way ..... there is nothing to do in our hand .... i mean ... hope this step will move w3t to the top of discussion board products .....<br /><br /><br />Good luck Scream ....... and wish u the best ..... <br /><br />Regards<br />BMH

Just FYI to the perl lovers out here... I would really like for us to form a Perl Support group where we can do upgrades to the current Perl Version and stuff and keep it going on our own without the financial backing of any corparation...<br /><br />Maybe even make our own little forum system from the design layout that Rick has been so great in developeing...<br /><br />Cause some things I will be doing to my version of W3T is making it use modules instead of having built in parsing stuff. Stuff like that...