You didn't ask much did you tracker. Don't worry about our petty fueds, they just occuppy our time but when something needs fixing then we pull together and get it done. To answer your questions:
1. Dolphin is a free product. The licensing does not unlock premium features, it removes the Boonex ads from your site when you purchase a license. You are free to utilize the software (Dolphin) by obtaining a Free License, just keep in mind the Ads will remain on it.
2. There are Free and Paid Extensions. The majority here refer to them as mods (modifications) and a much larger list is available at http://expertzzz.com which is also owned by Boonex, however you must do a lot of research before you purchase anything from over there. Don't rely just on the Comments on products, but rather utilize google and the forums on here & expertzzz to make a decision on what to buy. Just because someone has a lot of them listed does not mean they're up to date or work as they are advertised.
3. You can have a fully operational community by obtaining a server (recommend a VPS or Dedicated if your budget can accommodate it), installing Dolphin and then installing an RMS (Media Server) or by Leasing RMS service off someone who provides it regularly.
4. Professional Installation by Boonex Team Members just means they will install Dolphin for you. In order to obtain this you need to purchase the Prime Package (Licensing) which runs $998.00. If you go with a host who has their servers set up for Dolphin then Installation is usually pretty simple if you have any experience at all with web sites & scripts. If you don't want to purchase the license then install ranges from free (some will do it for you as a favor) up to about $60 with the average I believe around $30 or so. Install takes about 20 minutes plus the amount of time it takes ot upload the software package.
5. Documentation. Now that is something all of us would love to have and only a few have made some type of. The Best Documentation is from JTadeo at http://boonexnerd.com or .net I forget which to be honest. He has what they call the Dolphin Manual that you can download for free or purchase a hard copy (book version) of it from him. It's about 160 pages and has some really great pictures. While it's not all inclusive and not extrmely technical, it will teach you how to run a Dolphin site and deal with most issues that come up. After that, you have 2 choices for support:
- Utilize the Forums, if someone is around and sees your post that has the knowledge then they'll help you out for free.
- Post a Request on Jobs to hire someone to take care of the item for you.
- Contact Boonex Admin (I recommend Lyubov for this, she's great at getting help for people) and they will often help out.
To create a truly functional community though, there are many parts of Dolphin you'll be interested in upgrading to achieve a truly functional community that your members will enjoy participating in. For that, you need to use your imagination, be prepared to learn many new things and ask a lot of questions.
