<…> On numerous occasions, Theymos has also given a statement that just upgrading SMF wouldn't be possible/feasible since he rewrote a lot of the current SMF sourcecode so a straightup upgrade would no longer work (i'm just to lazy to find the correct reference link).
I figure you are referring to this post:
re: What is wrong with the development of new software ?I’ve seen quite a few large and long software projects take a dip at some point. On some occasions due to the project requirements changing drastically, rendering the developed software so far functionally obsolete, on others due to the overly complexity undergone in the development, and on other occasions due to new SAS (software as a service) covering the functionality at a fraction of the cost. Adequately allocated resources have a large saying in the equation. On these occasions though, the invested amount was thrown at a loss, as often functionality and timing mark the pace where there is a strong pressure from the Business.
Here, there is no extreme pressure to forgo the change of software due to business needs. Sure a nicer framework may be catchy to attract new users, and a bunch of new functionality may make the forum interaction nicer in the day to day (i.e. built in notifications when mentioned, 2FA is on the list of Epochtalk features, and so on).
Current Bitcointalk maintenance and software feature evolution, as derived from the above referenced post, seems to reside on a single man’s shoulders, but it works. Moving on to a new software, which is the intent, puts that task on a new scenario where what now is fixed in a short period of time may require days on end (simply because everything is different).
One important thing to understand is that Epochtalk is, in intent, a generic forum generator, where Bitcointalk is just an instance. That is, Epochtalk is not only Bitcointalk, but a software capable of supporting a variety of different forums; a bit much like smf itself. It’s therefore not really a question of running Bitcointalk on smf/smf2 or on Epochtalk, but rather more developing a competition to smf itself. The objective is bigger that it seems.
