[]but remember, these products have been around for much longer than threads, and threads is new and has been essentially re-written from the ground up to provide the best performance [/] Threads was converted from perl to php. The last time I looked at any of the code there was still a lot of the old perl functions still there, but, converted to php. So it wasn't rewritten from the ground up. I run both vb and threads and currently run vb3 beta on a forum that has 400 online most of the time with the exception of weekends. Hovers around 200 then. I converted to vb on that site because threads couldn't scale. As it turns out this was more a fault with mysql then threads although there is still a problem with threads db layer that causes various tables to corrupt when using mysql 4. This doesn't happen with vb. VB2 code is convoluted and messy. VB3 code is a total rewrite and very impressive. Can't say more because I am bound by NDA. Once released VB3 will make a huge impact.
There are some quirks in threads when running it on Windows that I have not seen in VB.
The corrupt table problem from above. When editing the config file from the cp and saving you lose all the linebreaks and the forum dies until you open it in an editor and reformat the text. This is because there is no allowance in the code for /r/n. All linebreaks are /n. When editing templates from the cp everything gets double and triple spaced after you save it. Shutting off the referer check brings the forum to its knees. Pages won't load or take 10+ seconds to load. These are minor annoyances, but, if you want threads to be portable across multiple platforms they should be fixed. I like both products. They both have strengths and weaknesses. From what I see Rick is continuelly adding to his original perl code, but, never completely getting rid of it all. A ground up rewrite would seem to be in order. Finish and release 6.4 and then put a hold on development of that branch, other than bugfixes, and do a total rewrite. Users might have to wait for the next version, VB3 has been in development for 1 1/2 years, but, the end result is a new, more efficient product without the old converted perl functions. Somewhere along the way a rewrite is in order for any software. BTW, all the fluff of VB can be turned off.
This is in no way a bash on threads and I am not a vbspy. I have been a loyal user of threads since the 3.0 perl days. I was probably one of the first to run the early php version on a high traffic site. It is a fine product, but, to build on the current code much longer will prove to be a bad mistake. The competitions code is becoming modular and more efficient. IMO the best forum software package out right now is a free product. Modular code making it easy to add hacks via plugins and a standard api. The old argument that a free product can't be as good as one you pay for is going out the window.
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