release date.

[Elarion]

I think that all this PHPBB 2.2/3.0 is just an experiment. It shows how many people are willing to follow a community dream, without any results. It started a few years ago and, since then, all people are waiting believing in some promises. Delay, delay, delay, a secret release date, and nothing more. Not even "hey, phpbb3.0 is 90% ready!", no, the secrecy cannot offer us not even a percent value updated daily.

What do you think you're using now? Hopes and dreams? Olympus is on the way, whether you believe it or not. If you want to waste your money on some crappy commercial proeduct, go ahead. Just don't expect to get a refund when Olympus is released and you can't stop drooling Personally, I think the money would be better spent donating to phpBB.

[alexro]

What do you think you're using now? Hopes and dreams? Olympus is on the way, whether you believe it or not. If you want to waste your money on some crappy commercial proeduct, go ahead. Just don't expect to get a refund when Olympus is released and you can't stop drooling Personally, I think the money would be better spent donating to phpBB.

I'm using a version that wasn't greatly developed since this time last year. Olympus is on the way and it has been (under the phpBB2.2 name) since more than 2 years ago and this is not an assurance that it will be release in the near future. It's less important to spend some money than the time, you can make the money back if you want but you can't say the same thing about the time But I will sure not donate them to phpBB just to help finance another year of developing the same version

P.S. Don't be so sure about the drooling

[Uchiha Nick]

donate to phpBB? they dont accept donations

also, if he wants to use some other (meh) forum software, let him.


but on the day Olympus gets released he will be like, NOOOOoo!!!

phpBB is the best, whether you believe it or not ( personal oppinion lol )

[alexro]

but on the day Olympus gets released he will be like, NOOOOoo!!!

1. It might be this year, next year or maybe the next decade
2. Why should I say "Noo"? I would be really glad to see that Olympus is out there... I don't like other payed sollutions but I am forced to use them because Olympus... is not here Well, I don't know how to install the waiting time and the promises on my server, maybe you can help me on this one
3. Maybe you think that I will consider that I lost the money? Come on, everybody lose money in a way or another during their lifetime but this is something I will decide if it will be lost money or a good investment
3. I'm astonished to see so many people that are so convinced regarding my future actions and thoughts!

phpBB is the best, whether you believe it or not

I agree, the 2.0.12 version is the best for it's target, but it lacks so many features that I want to use... that's why is useless, even with the available mods...

[Martin Blank]

If something else meets your needs better than phpBB, then go ahead and use it. The devs have never said anything differently. Depending on your board of choice, when Olympus comes out, you will probably have an option of converting over if you should so choose.

As for commitments, no one has made any. Paul has avoided mentioning release dates for this very reason. He has made hints, some partially in jest ('released this year,' referencing 2004) that reality has seen fit to make difficult, but he has never once set an actual release date. Some people have seen forecasts he has made (the possible beta around the beginning of February) and ran off talking about how the first beta would be on some specific date, which has led to some disillusioned people.

[APTX]

Someone may hack and steal the source*... A dev might get sick**... You might loose visitors... go buy that before it's too late .
*It's freely DL-able anyway
**Hopefully not

[alexro]

Well, regarding the upcoming features, there are several commercial products which already includes those features, and several free products which already has them at least in part.

I read on this board that this new version will be ready when it will be ready. I wonder how many of us really plan something in their lifes this way? I mean even the most less significant thing that you have to do is projected in our life's timeline with a deadline. When you want to go in a trip, when you want to create something, for everything you want to do you choose a deadline, you make a plan. An action that has no deadline is either a repetitive one, that loops till the end of the life, or something very unimportant, or something that has lost all it's meaning.

I perfectly understood that this project is not payed, that the devs are working at this project in their spare time. But working without any planification (there was a roadmap but without deadlines hehe, and the progress is secret, isn't it?), will do no good for this project.

I worked for a non-profit organisation, and I dedicated a lot of my time to this work. I wasn't payed and I did this because I liked the result, and I liked the smile from the faces of the people I helped. But this didn't meant that I had no program, that I was going there just when I was in the mood. No, it was a hard and strict program. And I followed it because of an ideea that all was built onto. And the results was visible from one day to another.

Sometimes trying to make a dream, an ideea become reality, just from charity or hobby, from passion, might need more work than a payed job. And that's why projects started from passion, like the majority of opensource projects gave much better results than an payed project. And that's why there are so many people who stay here and wait such a result.

Unfortunately, I think that this project is lost. There are no deadlines, there are no roadmaps, everything is covered with secrecy, no real results are seen. In the last year the most remarcable development is the change of name from phpBB2.2 to Olympus. It might be released this year who knows? It is expected a big "boom" but those who are waiting this reaction don't see that all the extraordinary features that was making from phpBB2.2 something extraordinar are now common features of a lot of other free and payed products. It will not be a big "boom" any more. It will be just another free forum software. Maybe with less mysql queries. Maybe less resource intensive. Who's gonna care?

It's sad to see how this project died over the years. It was revived from time to time only by the hope of their faithfull supporters, those who use phpBB2.0.12 and are still waiting for an upgrade to Olympus. I think this is the moment when the devs should choose: either they want to offer those users a better product and start to develop it with seriosity giving a deadline that they will meet, or to drop down this project entirely and stop this agony.

P.S. Please excuse my english. It's not my primary language.

[warmweer]

I don't really want to quote the whole post and comment on it but there are 2 statements which do merit a reply

Well, regarding the upcoming features, there are several commercial products which already includes those features, and several free products which already has them at least in part.

I tested a great many of the commercial and free products before deciding on using phpBB and phpBB won the competition hands down (in fact there were only 3 other products which could qualify as serious competitors (2 of which weren't free) and no I won't name them). So I started with 2.0.3( locally) and 2.0.4 online.
Yes, phpBB is not a complete solution BUT with some mods (available and tested) you can adapt phpBB to almost whatever you want. Performance wise and security wise it's up with the best. Price? - well the only thing which could improve is being paid for using it . In the 2 years I've been using it now, other products have included "phpBB mod functionalities" as standard features (who was first is irrelevant). But mods have evolved (and multiplied) also and modding has become relatively simple even for the non-technically adept. 2.0.12 (vanilla) still rates quite highly compared to other forumsoftware (with all the extras which I and 90% of other users don't want (but could not remove from the standard package).

But working without any planification (there was a roadmap but without deadlines hehe, and the progress is secret, isn't it?), will do no good for this project.

This is a bit unfair I think. The planning was done but things get in between (e.g. updating the 2.0.x series) and some personal matters will have higher priority anytime. Also progress as far as I've noticed isn't secret at all, there are printscreens available, there are the snapshots and this board is also updated once in a while. Yes, some things are kept secret (or let's rephrase that to not shown) but most new features can be seen here (and in the code).

I'll grant you that expectations were (and are) high and that the eyepopping effect may be absent after such a long wait. But I have no doubt that the wait will have been worth it.

To the developers : Get The Damn Thing Out (when it's ready and not a second earlier 8) )

[SamG]

It's sad to see how this project died over the years. It was revived from time to time only by the hope of their faithfull supporters, those who use phpBB2.0.12 and are still waiting for an upgrade to Olympus. I think this is the moment when the devs should choose: either they want to offer those users a better product and start to develop it with seriosity giving a deadline that they will meet, or to drop down this project entirely and stop this agony.

What's even sadder is how some people, including phpBB users, continue to read these forums in a highly selective manner, believing what they like rather than what is said in entirety.

There are no secrets with regard to development status, release dates, and the like. That has been said countless times to the point of monotony. Even people who do not speak English natively ought to be getting the point by now, by any fair reading of what has been written here, that users have created the phpBB development secrets myth, not team members. That a few users seem to prefer this myth over publicly available information to the contrary is entirely beyond my comprehension.

As for the earnest desire of the developers to see phpBB development through, it should be fairly obvious that they are committed enough to ignore unfair and unjust criticism by some in the community and continue phpBB development for the sake of the project and for the sake of the community that phpBB services, and services well by the judgment of many.

Those who prefer to use another forum solution over phpBB are welcome and encouraged to do so, as always. No one, however, is free to perpetuate misinformation regarding phpBB either as a product or as a project.