Dear Sue,
I did read Jim Moore's email, and wondered why he was not carrying on that
dialogue on the Inmagic User Group list.
He obviously hasn't talked to Soutron yet. It is an Inmagic decision, and
came as a surprise to Soutron too. Actually it is the way a great many
software vendors handle their upgrade/maintenance payments, so it is just
bringing DBTW into line with the rest of the world. It also makes life
easier for the Support Help Desks if they do not have to learn to support
several versions of the software.
I was cross that it was announced at such short notice, but decided that
it was better to pay for the first year's maintenance for all "our" copies
at a good discount. Actually it makes it easier for people to budget for a
fixed annual payment rather than have a panic when a major upgrade is
announced.
Whether you decide to go for the maintenance contract or not is obviously
up to you and your IT department, and depends a lot on how confident you
feel about dealing with software problems as they arise. If you do decide
to take out the contract, of course you will have their help with any
problems the upgrade causes to your existing applications. I have found
over the years that upgrades usually make applications easier to manage
rather than worse.
Hope this helps
Caroline
[log in to unmask] writes:
>Hi Caroline
>
>I hope you've already read Jim Moore's e-mail. He is more or less saying
>what Margaret and I have concluded this last week. I think they are just
>using scare tactics to make librarians dependent on their software.
>What major upgrades are there likely to be on a regular basis to make
>quartely updates necessary?
>
>Apart from the rip-off factor, we are unable to just install an upgrade
>DB/Textworks anyway because it's likely
>to throw our loans system awry. (We haven't been able to install the
>version
>4.0 upgrade yet, for this reason)
>
>We have three different software products from Soutron, if they are saying
>one needs a maintenance contract
>for each, it's going to get a bit expensive and I feel the money would be
>better spent elsewhere, so we most
>probably won't be taking out any maintenance contracts.
>
>Sue
Caroline Sawers
Associate Director
South Thames Library and Information Service
Education Centre
Royal Surrey County Hospital
Guildford Surrey GU2 7XX
01483 464082
Fax 01483 455888
Email [log in to unmask]
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