Jelsoft, the company behind the hugely successful forum software vBulletin has just been acquired by Internet Brands Inc. Internet Brands is a leading provider of automotive, travel and home related sites and communities according to vBulletin’s press release. The fact that they have nothing to do with the software industry raises some red flags for me and most likely others. I’m not sure what to think of this right off the bat. Jelsoft claims that business will continue as usual and that the fact that they are now part of a bigger organization means that things will function more smoothly than before. Apparently things will be better than ever now.

I sure hope so. vBulletin is by far the very best forum software on the market. With hundreds of thousands of web based communities using vBulletin it seems odd that a company that essentially runs forums would buy them out. As long as vBulletin continues to be made available to webmasters then I don’t think I have a problem with the acquisition.

Looking at the bright side though, Jelsoft will not have a much higher budget, products and new versions should roll out much faster than before, and in the end even if the company doesn’t improve at all they are still the #1 forum software provider on the internet. I would like to think that the only place to go from here is up. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed.

Source: vbulletin.com