Vista or not to vista that is the question?
Every time new software is released, we get plenty of calls on should we upgrade or not? This time I decided to right a quick column on the theory that is behind a software upgrade and what we usually will tell our clients regarding the topic of software upgrades.
Software's are constantly being upgraded usually for one of two reasons, one is for the software to increase its functionality, and the other is for the software companies to make more money. As the software company receives complaints on specific functions that is does not do well or does not do at all, they will either, a) create a patch or, b) get the programmers to rewrite the software to include the missing functions.(and of course give us a new version) That handles the first reason for upgrades, now as to the second, making more money.
Every one in business understands the need for repeat customers and new customers. Software companies have figured out a perfect solution for repeat customers and that is, yes, you guessed it upgrades. Allow me to spend a little time on giving you a history lesson on computers and software. This information will help you to understand how to choose wisely on when to upgrade because ultimately you will have to. In the beginning of the information age (sounds like the introduction to an episode on the history channel) computers were evolving quickly, so quickly in fact that software developers were making so much money that every investor in the world began dropping there money into anything and everything that had to do with a computer. Software, hardware, web applications, business applications, web based marketing and so on and so on and so on. During this phase of development, it seemed the sky was the limit but like any business market, no matter what it is, there is, and will always be a plateau. In the late 90’s that plateau become apparent with the dot com burst.
Thousand of companies began closing there doors issuing layoff notices, selling off stocks trying to raise money on the dead ideas of the information age. During this time only the real ideas, the real value of the information age remained, and these companies are still household names to this day. Names like Microsoft, Google, QuickBooks, and the like. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on which side of the market you were on, tried and true business principles came back into play, leading to a simple question. How does a billion dollar company continue making billions when the purchase of new machines begins to grind to a halt?
Microsoft’s Bill Gates had the answer long before every one else had, and he has been showing it to us since the beginning. Microsoft began its rise with its first OS, MS-DOS then came Windows 3.1,Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000, XP and currently Vista. With the advent of each of these operating systems came new and improved software, but as we discussed earlier, all business does plateau, meaning if new hardware is not purchased neither is new software. Microsoft may have thought they had the answer to this problem but things didn’t work out quite as they had hoped.
Somewhere between windows 2000 and Microsoft Vista, our information age plateau arrived for Microsoft. For simple proof that this plateau exists all one has to do is look at all the business networks out there that are still running windows 2000. So many in fact, that there are two tracks to the MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) one for Windows 2000 the other for Windows XP also known as Server 2003. What this means is that business applications did not change as quickly as home applications therefore leading to slower Microsoft sales.
As the sales for Microsoft began to slow down, so did sales for everyone else in the computer industry, hardware, and software,Alike. The reasons for this slow down are simple, saturation, and the associated cost of upgrades to large enterprise. How many people do you know today that do not own at least one computer?(saturation). How many businesses do you think will spend a million dollars to upgrade from Windows 2000 to Windows xp at a cost of a million dollars I’m sure not many?(cost). With the current market saturation and this is not to say people aren’t buying new computers but they are certainly not buying them at the rate of the early and mid 90’s, to compensate, rather quickly the new number 1 focus for software companies has become repeat sales. Don’t believe me? Ok then answer me this. How many versions of QuickBooks are there? Why the new Windows Vista version when xp works fine. Why does Act no longer support version 6.0? Answer, to force you, the computer users to purchase new products.
Actually, the software pushes the demand for greater hardware. Look at it this way if you write new software that demands greater hardware resources, you will then boost hardware and software sales together, and doesn’t that make sense from a business perspective. This is business 101 for goodness sake and we, all the computer users worldwide are subject to this law.
That rather long-winded explanation leads to this: do we need to upgrade to Microsoft Vista? NO or better said not at this time.
Although in the not so distant future your upgrade will come, trust me.
In Conclusion,
As was said earlier in this article you will eventually be forced to upgrade, In terms of the operating systems not as quickly as in applications software. Quite simply we are at the will of the software companies as they upgrade there software they simply stop supporting previous versions of the software therefore forcing us into the upgrade process. Here are some simple rules to consider when upgrading.
Does the newer version have features that my company needs
What is the company’s training time frame for this new application ( new features usually mean the change of the familiar interface and you have to learn where everything is all over again)
Are they (the software company) supporting my current version and if so until when. (As long as they support you current application why upgrade?)
How long has this new version been offered (whenever a new version is introduced to the population it will always have bugs. The trick is to wait a little while before you purchase the newer version 6-12 months after the release date so the patches can be written to fix the issues the software has. Otherwise your tech support bills can get quite hefty as well as your company downtime, buyer beware)
What are the hardware requirements for the new software (new software may mean hardware upgrades make sure you evaluate the true cost of an upgrade)
How many technicians are skilled enough to support us after we upgrade. ( A software takes a little time to master so although your technician may be highly skilled in windows 2000 has he been educating in Windows server 2003)
What do your I.T. team or support personnel think about an upgrade? ( if you have an I.T. team or a technical support team get there input if not use a consultant it can save you tons of headaches)
Don’t listen to the software sales person use your technical support team (anybody who gets paid a commission on your purchase is not necessarily the best person to guide your purchasing decision )
If they offer a free trial use it ( a quick and easy way to determine the capabilities of the new software as well as the pitfalls in a controlled environment)
If you follow these rules they will definitely help you gauge when to upgrade and why. As always, I hope this article is helpful to all small businesses and entrepreneurs.
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DarrinJackson The Go To Guy
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