vBulletin 4.0 Development Update

We've made a lot of progress toward the alpha release on the two remaining fronts:

• Template conversion - This is the monster task, and the primary work remaining before we begin the alpha testing cycle on the Forums product. As anyone who has done major template modifications can attest, this is hard work, and there are more than five hundred templates to get through in Forums alone. As of today, more than 75% the templates have been started and more than a third are ready for alpha. As soon as the rest are ready, Forums will be released to begin alpha testing. (The alpha cycle for Suite will follow shortly after.)

• CMS enhancements - As I reported in my last update, we made the decision to invest some additional time to make vB4's new CMS component much better in terms of both usability and administrative controls. Yes, it's taking a bit longer than in our initial plan, but I'm sure that when you see it in action you will agree that the extra time was a good investment.

When? When?? WHEN???

Soon! As much as I would like to be able to provide a hard date, the home stretch to release is the hardest part. However, the biggest team to ever work on vB in its 10-year history is the group that's working on it now; your vB4 is in very good hands.

That said, I believe that we are within approximately four to five weeks of starting alpha testing. That's subject to adjustment, of course, but that's my best estimate as of today.

If you're on the alpha team, get ready; it's coming soon.

If you've applied to participate in beta, sit tight for a bit. I've received a few hundred applications, and I haven't gotten through them all quite yet.

More to come...