Software Upgrade Policies???

[munkee]

I purchased Vegas Video 4 + CD Architect 1.0. I recieved it last week. Now this week, Vegas announced that Vegas 5/CD Architect 2.0 will be released soon.

I emailed them on my upgrade information, hoping I would get it free since I just bought it. They tell me that if I purchased it within 30 of a new release I would be covered. I know it won't be released within my 30 day grace period. It seems all the other software companies offer a 60-90 free upgrade policy. I feel a bit frustrated. Had I known the new version would be out I would've waited...I just needed to vent...thanks

[zybch]

I have always though it a real abuse of customer loyalty, the way most software publishers work their upgrade policies.

Take for example, going from MS Office XP to the new Office 2003.
It still costs hundreds to upgrade, and for what?

Blue menus?

They are virtually identical but we still have to end up paying a small fortune should we want to move up to the next version, even if we have just bought the XP edition a week before.

[_Mystical_Night]

yeah it seems like the XP system just came out and microsoft is already working on a bunch of new OS's :p

I'm sticking with Windows XP when longhorn or whatever comes out ... why waste $300 it cost to upgrade when the operateing system software first comes out and is really expensive

Windows XP is plenty fast as it is now anyway ... boots up in 3-5 secs , stable , compatible with almost every other windows , what more can i ask for ?

[urdvurk]

Both zybch and _Mystical_Night make the same valid point: while it is nice (very nice in fact) to have the latest version of everything, you have to ask yourself what use it really is.

For instance, if Microsoft were to release a new OS tomorrow, would you really need it so bad you would have to upgrade from 2000 or XP? All are OSes, all work at least reasonably well, so why pay again to get new features you most likely won't use or even notice in everyday life?

Will shelling out $300 on a new OS make your life $300 better? I don't think so. Best spend the money on beer then.
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=158070
Wot, Friday already? Sweet. :D

[Billforce]

I would venture to say that a full 85% of my customers still use Office 97 (Espanol) and use it satisfactorily for their needs. Most shun the idea of shelling out 1,000,000 pesos for hyperbole.

[zybch]

Heck, even office 95 or MS Word 4 would probably be suficient for most office work.

Probably the most common reason for upgrading is that as new PCs are purchased by a business or corporation the versions of applications bundled or sold with the new PCs change.

Other computers in the business need the same versions of the software to retain compatibility and so software upgrades are performed.

I've looked deeply into the differences between Office 2000 and XP. The only major change I could easily find is the logo.

[cuelebre]

Hell . I got Office97 in 4 (98SE) machines and that will do fine for eveeeeeeer.

[Paco103]

Eh, just use OpenOffice or other open source stuff. They all have a free upgrade policy from anything.
Office2003 -> OpenOffice = free
Office XP -> OpenOffice = free
Works 97 -> OpenOffice = free
Word Perfect 6 -> OpenOffice = free
WordPad -> OpenOffice = free
Notepad -> OpenOffice = free
Edit.com -> OpenOffice = free
BIOSEditor -> OpenOffice = free
Stick and dirt -> OpenOffice = free(+ computer)


See, doesn't matter how old or what kind your previous version was :)

I don't know who'd want Office2K3 anyway. Those stupid blue menu's make me queesy.

It would be nice though if they did like a lot of the smaller companies do with say 1yr of free updates. That's what Trillian does, Goldwave is free upgrades for life, and they all seem to be doing ok. Plus it would help the reluctance to buy something when you know a new one will be out soon. Kind of like the price protection at Circuit City.

[richard_cocks]

notepad to openoffice? what kind of sadistic ******* are you?

[Paco103]

What's wrong with notepad -> OpenOffice? You can keep notepad too. Everyone needs that for editing those configuration files and such.

[richard_cocks]

quite, but using openoffice for ANYTHING you'd use notepad for is stupid/sucky/pointless. The kind of files you use notepad for are text files that you don't want wysiwyg on.

text editing and word processing are completely different things, kidna like saying win2k -> openoffice, free!

[Paco103]

that's true, but then edit.com and BIOS editor was also overkill on that. I do know some people who used to actually write with notepad though, because they didn't know how to use anything else.

[rraehal]

I only upgraded to Windows XP because I built a new computer with plans to put in a P4C 3GHz. I had Win98 FE and din't want problems on the new PC.

I agree that it is a waste to buy the new software right away. I only purchased office 2000 recently. I was using Word for Widnows 95 until a few months before I built the new PC. I had problems using files from work at home. I had to convert with Open Office first. ;)

[Paco103]

I work in the labs at my college, and I can't tell how many times I've saved someones term paper or big project with Open Office. One girl had an error on her disk, fixed that on the main lab machine with Norton Disk Doctor, but left some errors in the headers of her file. Her whole file wouldn't open without displaying the 100+ pages of formatting code because of that one little error. I opened it on my computer with Open Office, it showed the headers with null characters, and I resaved it for her, told her she would have to retype the headers/footers instead of the 10 page paper.

Seems pretty pathetic that MSWord can't do that simple recovery with it's OWN files.