Check this out..
actually a very cool little software package..

Boardawy is the web standard free open source code in Perl forum software and bulletin board system software with unparalleled features and tools with free support, multi lingual, multi theme, fully SQL driven, unlimited nested forums, highly customizable, banner system, private messages, site builder, content management, easy installation and administration, the ideal community solution for any web site.

* SQL database driven 100%.
* Unlimited categories.
* Unlimited forums.
* Multi - lingual.
* Multi - theme.
* Private messages system.
* Full user accounts manager.
* Advanced search tools.
* Images and files uploads.
* Content Management System
* Advanced user permissions
* Many Sorting options
* Admin Accounts Manager



* Fully integrated banner system.
* User registration confirmation.
* Database management.
* HTML template based.
* User Visual html editor.
* Admin Visual html editor.
* Custom functions.
* External programs integration.
* Unlimited mailing lists.
* Easy setup wizard.
* Very customizable.
* Hundreds of options

Information from their site Not by me.


Demo http://www.mewsoft.com/cgi-bin/board/forum.cgi

It's very secure, and fast. However, IMHO it looks very ugly.
With a proper theme, this could be better than vB.

LOL, yea.. shes not the most beautiful..
but like you said.. its only one good template away from being pretty..

I would like to see boardawy develop some really slick templates..

might be a very promising software..