• From: 127.0.0.1
  • Registered: 2001-11-02
  • Posts: 9,167

Topic: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

Invision Power Services, Inc. Introduces a New Focus

With its recent version 2.0 releases of its flagship product: Invision Power Board, the Company has refocused its products, services, and offerings. The change started with a successful sale offer on Invision Power Board and will culminate with a new customer-focused company.

"Over the past several months as Invision Power Board 2.0 neared completion we sought to focus our customer service efforts and stream-line everything we do. Through a lot of work and reviewing customer feedback, requests, and suggestions we have implemented what will be a breath of fresh air to our current and future customers," stated Matthew Mecham, CEO of Invision Power Services.

Some of the most important changes include sweeping changes to the customer service process. The Company has introduced live chat support for its customers, more efficient telephone support, and posted expected response times in the support desk. The downloadable free trial of Invision Power Board has been removed and replaced with a free, 15 day demo hosted account to try out the software. This change will allow the Company to focus its complete attention on product development and customer needs.

"One of the best changes is the introduction of a new Standards of Service policy. We hope by moving our policies out of technical licenses and terms of service agreements into an easy to read and welcoming format it will serve to benefit both our customers and staff. By clarifying what, why, and how we provide service to our customers we will be able to further improve that service," stated Lindy Throgmartin, COO of Invision Power Services.

The Standards of Service policy will serve to explain the impressive outline of customer service offerings available. Through a single interface, any customer will be able to quickly see the value of their purchase with Invision Power Services and how to get even more from our varied array of products.

In addition to customer service improvements the IPS Hosting web site and forum hosting division has been completely re-launched. The dedicated server line has been expanded and more benefits added for server customers. All IPS Hosting shared, forum, and dedicated server accounts will come with an Invision Power Board 2.0 license for use on their account at no extra charge.

Invision Power Services, Inc. will be announcing new employment openings, products, services, and promotions in the coming weeks to celebrate its new focus and bright future.

Invision Power Services, Inc. is a leading provider of online community solutions and web hosting. Invision Power Board is used on thousands of web sites around the Internet to power their community.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

Rickard's Website

2 Reply by ShayneB

  • ShayneB
  • Guest

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

Basically no good highend forums that are free anymore.  phpbb hasnt had a major update since i was on Windows 3.1, and beyond that most forums just dont cut it for features.

However i guess if you want the best stuff you gotta pay the man.  Windows aint free, but Linux is.

  • Jansson
  • Former PunBB Developer
  • Offline
  • From: Sweden
  • Registered: 2003-01-06
  • Posts: 856

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

What do you mean? Like windows would be a better OS than Linux? I'm confused :P

PunBB is in my opinion the best forum software avaible, of course it depends on what you're going to use it for, and it's free too.

  • From: 127.0.0.1
  • Registered: 2001-11-02
  • Posts: 9,167

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

ShayneB wrote:

Basically no good highend forums that are free anymore.  phpbb hasnt had a major update since i was on Windows 3.1, and beyond that most forums just dont cut it for features.

However i guess if you want the best stuff you gotta pay the man.  Windows aint free, but Linux is.

If features are your only benchmark, yes.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

Rickard's Website

5 Reply by hcgtv

  • hcgtv
  • hcgtv
  • Senior Member
  • Offline
  • From: Charlotte, NC
  • Registered: 2004-06-25
  • Posts: 1,991

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

I knew it was going to happen, that's why I don't spend my time on anything that is not open source with a GPL license.

Once bitten, twice shy.

PHPCrossRef . TXP Make . TXP Themes . TXP Tags . TXP Planet . We Love TXP

hcgtv's Website

6 Reply by Andy

  • Andy
  • PunBB Donor
  • Offline
  • From: UK
  • Registered: 2003-08-23
  • Posts: 338

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

A shame that its gone completely paid. punBB is free though, and thats all that matters. smile

As Jansson said, punBB is the best forum software available...

7 Reply by ShayneB

  • ShayneB
  • Guest

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

Sure features are a good benchmark, and until PunBB gets user-groups its just not going to work for me, and many others smile  I'll keep patiently waiting though (im using one i built myself for now).

Ya..my windows vs. linux was just a dig at all the Linux users...flamewar bait smile

8 Reply by Ludo

  • Ludo
  • Senior Member
  • Offline
  • From: France, Poitiers
  • Registered: 2004-06-23
  • Posts: 527

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

Euh... I'm french and I haven't understood all.
What's the problem with invision board? they want to destroy punbb?
Can somebody sum up the problem in order me to understand?

Ludo

Actualité haut débit en lien avec Free Adsl
Programme télé TNT

Ludo's Website

9 Reply by Paul

  • Paul
  • Senior Member
  • Offline
  • From: Wales, UK.
  • Registered: 2003-08-13
  • Posts: 3,089

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

Ludo wrote:

Euh... I'm french and I haven't understood all.
What's the problem with invision board? they want to destroy punbb?
Can somebody sum up the problem in order me to understand?

Ludo

The problem is they used to let people use Invision Board for free, now you have to pay money.

10 Reply by Ludo

  • Ludo
  • Senior Member
  • Offline
  • From: France, Poitiers
  • Registered: 2004-06-23
  • Posts: 527

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

Paul wrote:

The problem is they used to let people use Invision Board for free, now you have to pay money.

Ok. I did not know invision board could be used for free. Anyway, it has no matter for punbb. That's the essential!

Ludo

Actualité haut débit en lien avec Free Adsl
Programme télé TNT

Ludo's Website

11 Reply by hcgtv (edited by hcgtv 2004-09-27 20:15)

  • hcgtv
  • hcgtv
  • Senior Member
  • Offline
  • From: Charlotte, NC
  • Registered: 2004-06-25
  • Posts: 1,991

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

How well does this conversion tool work?
Invision Power Board 2 to PunBB Converter Beta 5

PHPCrossRef . TXP Make . TXP Themes . TXP Tags . TXP Planet . We Love TXP

hcgtv's Website

12 Reply by Beast6228 (edited by Beast6228 2004-09-28 06:41)

  • From: usa
  • Registered: 2004-09-11
  • Posts: 13

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

"Matthew Mecham"

That name sure does bring back alot of memories....wayyy back when, there was this forum called "Power Board" (perl) Anyways,at the time the two biggest forums were UBB and WWW Threads..bad part was they cost money....well this Power Board forum suddenly started becoming popular...it was kinda like the PunBB forum....it was a good forum...but not everyone knew about it. Well to make a long story short..."Matthew Mecham" was a kid who used to make mods for it....he was just starting to learn about perl and stuff then...he was good too. He helped the powerboard team fix some security issues.  I've helped Matthew Mecham
test some of his patches back then, he was really doing some good work...I remember him saying that people shouldn't have to pay for a forum....and he slowly started to work on his own forum...(ikon board)

Shortly after he stopped working on powerboard and spent all of his time on ikon board, I tried it out and liked it...back then it was still perl...but it was a really good alternative to the forums that cost money. I kinda got out of the forum scripting and modding thing when he started to switch things to php.....but I'll never forget what he said about how the world shouldn't have to pay for a forum. tongue

Oh well, I guess you gotta make a living someway..somehow. smile

Beast6228's Website

13 Reply by Annoymous

  • Annoymous
  • Guest

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

Check out the Original: iKonBoard

Making it's brand new release of v.3.1.3 very soon!
Come on over today and convert or start a new board.

  • From: 127.0.0.1
  • Registered: 2001-11-02
  • Posts: 9,167

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

Beast6228 wrote:

Oh well, I guess you gotta make a living someway..somehow. :)

Yes, I would probably have done the same if I was in it to make a living.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

Rickard's Website

15 Reply by ristuart (edited by ristuart 2004-10-03 10:53)

  • From: Lincolnshire, England
  • Registered: 2004-08-07
  • Posts: 2

Re: Invision Power Board goes "pay only"

It is certainly not a suprising change, and doesn't seem unreasonable in itself. I've seen a lot of people complaining that they shouldn't have to pay for the software. That's clearly up to Invision Power Services. It was never an open source model.

However...

Matt Mecham @ Nov 27 2003, 06:13 PM wrote:

Yes, we're pushing our paid services harder, but we're still offering a free product that is fully functional. This has always been our vision and it's not going to change. "They" said 1.1 wouldn't be free, it was. "They" said 1.2 wouldn't be free, it was. "They" said 1.3 wouldn't be free, it was. "They" say 2.0 won't be free - and it will be.

How many times do we have to prove "them" wrong?

That's cached here, and has since been deleted from the IPS forums...

When people say they've been lied to, I'd have to agree, and that doesn't seem so reasonable. Still, life goes on.

Richard