[Foxx]

I spent some time thinking of an interesting way of promoting vBulletin to those who are not so fortunate to use it. Unfortunately it is against the vBulletin terms of service to rent vB licenses, so the thread on vBcom got locked immediately. That wasn't exactly an encouragement booster. Even though we cannot actually do this, I would like to share my idea to get some opinions on it if it were allowed. It took me a while to type the thread that got locked instantly so I'd rather not let all that go to waste.

I came up with an idea, let me explain it.

I think many people would like to use vBulletin but cannot do so for many different reasons. Some people can't afford it, some younger people have no way of paying for it online, and some people may just be skeptical about it.

At the same time I think a lot of us have extra vBulletin licenses in our members' area that are not being put to good use because we don't have a good idea or aren't ready to dive into a new project yet.

So, do the math, people with no license that would be very thankful to have one, and people that have a few extra that they're not using but would rather not give away or sell.

That's where I came up with the idea--vBulletinRentals. Those of us from the vB community that have extra licenses (or would be willing to buy more for this purpose) could use them to "rent" to others. I haven't thought to far into it, as far as how the renting would work, but I see potential.

There are many possible ways could setup the license rentals. For example, one plan could be an instant license for no cost at all for six months. In the six months they try to develop a site. If they like what they did and would like to continue they could offer to buy the license from you and keep their site running. Alternatively, if they don't like what they did and would like to trash the forum, they could pay a small fee for the six month rent and they're done. Unless they sign up again they no longer have a vB forum to use. That license goes to someone else who has signed up.

As far as hosting and domains go, that would need to be worked out too. If this actually turned out successful we could get our own dedicated server to host the rentals. The renter could provide their own domain or have us purchase one for them. In that case they would get to keep the domain when the rental is up but they would have to pay the $7-10 for it.

If there is no provided domain and they can't afford to buy one (after all, this is meant to let people use a vBulletin license for absolutely no charge for a limited time), we could use our own sub-domains or addon domains. Kind of like what most free forum websites do (ie: autoforums.vBulletinRentals.com or an addon domain: autoforums.vBRentals.com).

I hope some of you are interested in this project. With the approval of the vB team I think it could really work. Word of mouth ("Look! I found a site to get a free vB license!") should surely help us grow fast.

Hypothetically speaking, would you have been interested in participating?

[Sir TVDinner]

I think it is a good idea in principal, but obviously VB is against it because they dont make that money. For all of the software's that cost money it is all about making the $$$.

[Foxx]

Thanks, it seemed like it would have been a good system.

I didn't even think of vBulletin not allowing it at the time. I just let me imagination go and then realized it probably can't happen anyway.

[Cori]

Not sure what I think about that yet. I can tell you put a lot of thought into though How would you make the renters pay if you are letting them use it for the first 6 months free? How would you enforce something like this? Seems like more of a pita than it may be worth.

[calum]

Good idea, I really like it but don't think it will happen.

[Foxx]

It can't happen. It is against vB rules.

But before I knew that I had some ideas. I don't know how we would have made sure they were going to pay. Good point.

[DannyH]

What about the same idea, but it being used as a loan?
Paid over 12 months with a bit extra (maybe offer services too to gain profit?)

I think the rental idea is very good, and if vBulletin allowed it, it could be a very profitable idea

[leew031]

ye i thinkk it would be a good idea, or even if they did trials of it ,

[Jolteon]

If it was allowed, it'd be a very neat idea.

[bdude]

They could do some kind of encoded "demo" version that lets you use it for say 30 days before it locks and then you enter your customer number and it unlocks.