I'm thinking of setting up my own forum website relating to my SAP business. What do you recommend software wise? I see there are many shareware, some public domain and even some commercial software which is also reasonably price(around $200/year). I guess my parameters are: uses MYSQL db and runs on Unix/Linux, other than that ? efficiency, stability, ease of use?

any suggestions, recommendations welcomed.

craig.

AudioRoundTable.com is powered by a modified form of WWWBoard. It's the original WWW messageboard, and it has some really attractive features. There are others too, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Examples include vBulletin, phpBB and Colloquius.

All of your options are actually pretty inexpensive to setup. What costs the most is development, should you require added functionality. Maintenance can become expensive when the site is popular, even if only moderately. But the initial investment is small, often times free, and sometimes tied to an annual service agreement with your ISP.

When AudioRoundTable.com was being formed, I donated a lot of time developing features that I always wanted over at the old forum, and eliminating some of the chaffe that I never really liked or thought was needed. I've decided to make this Parham Data version of WWWBoard available, and we can discuss it off-forum if you're interested.

Wayne