The slow times may be attributed to the end of year, with a lot of deadlines coming and people occupied.

For the updated forum software, it's been long suggested to use vBulletin or Invision Board. Both come with tools to convert your existing PhpBB database to the new board, so all threads, posts and users remain intact.

For that matter, vBulletin has an add-on vbAdvanced, which allows you to put the front page in the same skin as the forum, customize the front-page and show news posts.

Yes, the above forums are not free, but with donations (I'm in, by the way) I believe you can acquire the permanent license without much hassle.

As a forum user myself, I try to stay away from PhpBB and SMF based forums as much as possible. Switching from PhpBB to SMF is like selling your soul to the devil, then transferring it from one devil to another.

[size=9px]Come on, is it so difficult gathering $80 for PGD forum software?[/size]