So when is v5 available?

[Fishooked]

I have been hearing of this 'v5' forever - now that I see new icons on on this board and a somewhat sleeker interface, I guess my big question is 'when'?

When will it become available to the rest of us?

[Kami]

i dunno what you mean "the rest of us". xD v5 hasn't been released at all yet. it's not even out of alpha testing. =P

v5 doesn't have a current release date; check the ProBoards blog in your admin panel for updates, that'll be the place to go to see anything regarding v5. That, and here, of course. The icons and stuff are just little samples of what is to come.

[Fishooked]

May 3, 2010 17:18:44 GMT -8 Kami said:

i dunno what you mean "the rest of us". xD v5 hasn't been released at all yet. it's not even out of alpha testing. =P

v5 doesn't have a current release date; check the ProBoards blog in your admin panel for updates, that'll be the place to go to see anything regarding v5. That, and here, of course. The icons and stuff are just little samples of what is to come.

That's the thing....I've heard about 'what's to come' for well over two years now. How long does it take to release a new version?

Being in the service industry myself, promising clients a great new software release, and not delivering, or delaying, is incredibly frustrating. It just feels like we are being 'strung along' when there are better looking options out there currently.

Also the old PB Blog is no longer available, so basically there is no news on it.

[Charles Stover]

Firstly, wrong forum.
Secondly, it takes forever. ProBoards is a large service, so there are a lot of things to update. Unlike most software providers, I assume ProBoards only becomes "v5" when it completely rewrites "v4" from the ground up. It's an amateur mistake to call something an entirely new version when all that is changed is the icons and HTML (something many of the graphics sites on ProBoards do). All the internals are being redesigned, optimized, and expanded upon. This not only requires a lot of time to create, but a lot of type to debug - to ensure the safety of ProBoards countless member base. God forbid somebody crack in and still every single password on ProBoards.
Thirdly, ProBoards Blog.

[Fishooked]

May 3, 2010 17:54:23 GMT -8 Charles Stover said:

Firstly, wrong forum.
Secondly, it takes forever. ProBoards is a large service, so there are a lot of things to update. Unlike most software providers, I assume ProBoards only becomes "v5" when it completely rewrites "v4" from the ground up. It's an amateur mistake to call something an entirely new version when all that is changed is the icons and HTML (something many of the graphics sites on ProBoards do). All the internals are being redesigned, optimized, and expanded upon. This not only requires a lot of time to create, but a lot of type to debug - to ensure the safety of ProBoards countless member base. God forbid somebody crack in and still every single password on ProBoards.
Thirdly, ProBoards Blog.

Ok, the blog link doesn't help, since its dated May 2010, and there are no archived links for v5 news. Even the old blog links I found on Google are gone.

I wouldn't be so frustrated if I kept hearing 'coming in v5' since 2008. That is a lifetime in this day and age. It sounds to me that PB overpromised and underdelivered.

[Kami]

I think you don't understand the extent of v5. ProBoards software is being completely rewritten in a different language than it is now. There are more features [especially where the admin panel is concerned], and many things from the current version are not only being updated, but revamped entirely.

I appreciate it's been ages, but once the admins decide to release v5 for beta testing, hopefully you'll come to think it was worth the wait.

[Fishooked]

Thanks for the info. If it's anything like what's going on with my own company and the economy, development organizations have been hit pretty hard lately, so I don't know if that could be a potential reason as well.

New projects aimed towards the client are getting shelved, and they are only investing in projects that will save the company money.

[Kami]

I don't think that's the case with ProBoards. But also keep this in mind - despite the fact that PB hosts millions of forums [that they have to be sure the new software will be rolled into smoothly], they only have a handful of people working on the system. Pat, of course, as well as Martyn, and I believe Adam and Ryan. I believe that's it, though there may be one or two more, I can't recall at this point in time. But my point is, while PB has a lot of clients, the company itself is very small.

In fact, it only got an office end of last year. =X

[iota]

with this whole v5 thing, do the earlier versions automatically get upgraded? or would a new forum need to be made to use the newer version?

[Charles Stover]

The older ones will automatically get upgraded.

[Kami]

May 4, 2010 9:16:38 GMT -8 iota said:

with this whole v5 thing, do the earlier versions automatically get upgraded? or would a new forum need to be made to use the newer version?

May 4, 2010 10:05:30 GMT -8 Charles Stover said:

The older ones will automatically get upgraded.

to expand on that, much like when v4.5 [the current version] was rolled out, there will be an 'early conversion' time period. if the last conversion is any indication, there will be a notice in the admin panel asking if the administrator would like to convert the forum over early.

if you choose not to, your forum will still be automatically upgraded, but you do receive notice that [1] you can do it early, and [2] that your forum will be upgraded automatically.

it's not going to just suddenly change without warning.

[Chris]

I also believe the update period has been stated to be 3 months, though that might have changed since I last heard.