Quite agree Clive.
We've just upgraded the Eriba forum from the simplistic MSN Groups software (no post editing, no in-line graphics, no search - so rather worse than here) to the "industry standard" php forum software:
Total cost - zero - we used the freeware versions
Time to implement - about 2 months of fiddling around with test sites before going live just before Christmas
Features - high security and unique user names, post editing, graphics, on-line spell checker, voting polls, smart user interface, etc., etc.
Robert