I'm one of those people who hate to throw away anything that's still
good. If there is no mold or bad smell, I figure it's still is good to
eat.
The problem with software is that it can't mold, and any smell is
probably something wrong with your computer, not the software. It can
be hard to tell that your software has expired until one day it
suddenly stops working.
The problem is that software "not working" is simply too vague.
Software has always been prone to bugs and strange behavior. All it
takes is a single typo, a bad subroutine, or a buffer overflow, and
suddenly things aren't working properly. The stars align, and you are
having your worst day of the year.
Fixing Broken Software
I usually try to fix broken software by reinstalling, clearing out
junk files, updating my version, etc. But sometimes the problem is
directly related to updating the operating system or another really
important application.
Now you have a choice: Downgrade your system for this one piece of
software or do without it. In effect, your software has expired.
There is no warning when the software you own is going to expire.
Wouldn't it be helpful if the software you bought came with the
following warning:
Warning: This product has been optimized to work with
version X.XX of your operating system. We plan to support this version
for the next two releases and software patches. After that, you are
going to be required to repurchase this software to work with any new
updates to your operating system.
Stating anything less is misleading. You had plenty of other
applications that survived the update process, so why did this one fail
while others didn't? And with no warning or statement of future
support, how are you supposed to know how long the software should
work?
If I had known that the software was going to expire after just one
OS release, I might have held off on the purchase or bought someone
else's product. for me, repurchasing software has generally been a big
loss. Often the original functionality was all I needed. I see updates
as fixes for the errors the developer left in the code; I seldom
upgrade for any of the new features. They are mostly nice extras, not
critical features.
The truth, it seems, is that software is only good for the day you
purchased it. Support for any future problems is up to the software
vendor. The length of support is often arbitrary. Occasionally,
following an unwritten rule, it should last for one year. Before that
time you may get the next version for a reduced price or, if you are
lucky, free.
Software Maintenance Contracts
The worst compromise - but sometimes the only guarantee - is the
dreaded software maintenance contract. It sounds nice. Pay a "small
fee" and you get any upgrades and patches for a fixed period of
time.
That's great - until you look into the fine print: These maintenance
contracts treat your software as a service, and they can force you to
upgrade even if you don't want to.
Say you have an office with both old and new computers. The old
computers don't run the latest version of the program very well, so you
may want to keep using the old version on these machines, but can
you?
An example I ran into was with the network version of ACAD 2009. The
oldest version you are allowed to install on the server is two releases
back (ACAD 2007). If these old computers were using ACAD 2004 just fine
but can't handle ACAD 2007, you find yourself having to upgrade or
replace computers that are perfectly adequate with their currently
installed software. Either upgrade or require the new computers stick
with using the older software.
The software maintenance agreement wasn't saving any money on that
deal.
The bottom line is that all hardware and software decisions are
linked together by the secret software expiration date that no one
wants to admit to. Software is going to expire, you just don't know
when. It may happen after an update to your operating system or after
you buy a new computer and are still using the current operating
system.
Protect Yourself
The best defense is to find what works and stick with it as long as
possible. Treat any update as a threat to your computer's stability.
Install updates with a plan to roll back the changes if they don't
work. If there isn't a security risk or a major benefit, skip a release
or two. Read up on other people's problems before you run the
update.
If you can, run a systems diagnostic before installing any updates.
Nothing drives you crazier than a hard drive failure that happens just
after a software update. The two were probably not related, but you
only see them as cause and effect. The most reliable computers are the
ones maintained but not necessarily upgraded.
If you want to stay with the newest operating system or the fastest
computer, be prepared to repurchase a certain amount of software with
every upgrade. A new computer gives you greater freedom to run the
latest resource hungry software, but there are no guarantees that the
old software you were happy with will continue to work.
If you are like me, you keep an old computer around just in case.
Old laptops are my preferred fallback. They are small and
self-contained. Except for the battery eventually going bad, they won't
spoil just sitting on a shelf. Best of all, old laptops cost only a
fraction as much as new ones.
Good luck keeping all your old software working. If you ever run
into trouble, just hop over to
eBay and buy that laptop you wanted five years ago. You can afford
it now, and you have a good excuse for buying it.
If you are like me, you'll be coming back to Low End Mac to look
through all the Mac profiles to
decide which model will give you the best performance for that old
software you want to keep using. Go ahead and have a look - all the
models are listed. I'm sure you'll find one that fits your needs
perfectly, and you'll save a bundle buying used.
