It's nothing new with regards to Intuit's policy to discontinue support for their software after 3+ years. They've been doing this for numerous years. Furthermore, I understand the reasons for it from my days when I worked for a software development company. While I'm not sure if Intuit chooses this policy for the same reasons we did it at the aforementioned company, let me explain my take on why this is a good idea:
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Good software companies (like Intuit) are constantly striving to make their product(s) better; to take advantage of other evolving technology and ideas. If you don't upgrade in a timely manner you are missing out on features and functions which can only help you in your use of software.
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Developers love working on new ideas; new technology, etc. As a company, if you don't allow
for the development team(s) to grow their skills, they will grow them with another company. That's expensive. Good companies must retain their best employees. The main way to do this is to consistently challenge them with growth opportunities.
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On the flip side of the above, the older software gets the more expensive it is to maintain. Developers demand (if you can find them) a premium for working on older software. Why? Because they can. No one else wants to touch the older software, so some developers do so with the attitude that they can and will charge a premium.
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Software support engineers want to do their best work when you have a problem. However, they can only retain so much knowledge across various versions of software. Additionally, these support engineers love new stuff too.
- OK, while this is likely the least driving force you may be concerned with, it is the fact that new software sales and upgrades feed the revenue stream. Without the consistent revenue, there would be no software company.
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The ability to sort the various columns when doing a bank or credit card reconciliation. This is one of my favorites, as I find this simple little feature to be very useful.
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If you accidentally or purposely click on the Red "X" in the upper right-hand corner, QuickBooks now prompts you to confirm if you really want to exit QuickBooks. Come on, you know you have mistakenly clicked here before and QuickBooks just closed. No longer, beginning in 2009.
- Company Snapshot - especially for the business owner, he or she can see at a glance the overall health of the business. You can see things like, income/expense trends, your top customers, account balances, A/R, A/P and recent transactions, just to name a few.
For more information concerning this visit the Intuit website posting on this subject at http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/discontinuationplan.aspx.
QuickTrainer can assist you with procuring your upgrade and we can install the software for you. Furthermore, we can sit with you and your other team members to teach you "What's New" in the latest version. Just call us at 910-338-0488 or email us at info@quicktrainer.biz.