I've seen this done by many small time companies but what the old saying? Go after those with the deepest pockets?
:)
http://techdirt.com/articles/20051005/0857224_F.shtml
Enjoy!
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I've seen this done by many small time companies but what the old saying? Go after those with the deepest pockets?
:)
http://techdirt.com/articles/20051005/0857224_F.shtml
Enjoy!
While there may be legitimate reasons to update or upgrade bookkeeping software on an annual basis (tax and regulatory compliance, etc), I never liked Intuit's approach. Also, they were responsible for the demise of one of their competitors back in the day--my bookkeeping app of choice at the time.
To this day, I refuse to use Quicken on principle.
Do you see people sueing microsoft for not supporting windows 95 or 98 anymore? A lot of people unfortunatly are still hooked to them. We use Quickbooks at my company, we were forced into upgrading...it wasn't a steep price change and they did offer an upgrade price that was substantially less.
I don't see that happening anytime soon, but I like the way you think... Why *AREN'T* people suing MS?Quote:
Originally posted here by kr5kernel
Do you see people sueing microsoft for not supporting windows 95 or 98 anymore? A lot of people unfortunatly are still hooked to them. We use Quickbooks at my company, we were forced into upgrading...it wasn't a steep price change and they did offer an upgrade price that was substantially less.
I have not read the article, but I am familiar with the general problem... does Intuit render the software unusable (i.e. are they selling crippleware?) if the versions aren't up-to-date, or is it just a matter of "we won't support that version because it's 6.5 months old"? If it's the latter, might I suggest peachtree (right name?) or another app? I've never been a huge fan of the way Intuit does things...but they are one of the 'big dogs' and seem to use their clout as they see fit.
The problem is that Intuit is *intentionally* disabling features of a program, thereby forcing users to update and buy the new version. So yes, they render the software unusable at a time when they expect to have a new product available.
It's not simply a matter of discontinuing support; it bears no comparison to Microsoft not supporting Windows 95 anymore. Ford doesn't make parts for my 1992 Tempo any longer either. I don't complain. But if they programmed the computer to stop injecting fuel 10 years after the purchase date, I think I might just have a complaint or two for them.
And Intuit is not disabling minor features. They disable major ones. Like printing invoices.
Some one brought up M$ and why havn't they been sued. They have been for a broken compression app in DOS 6 (think that correct)
Then charging for the upgrade with a fix.
Class action brought against them. Microsoft won the case.