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Software Releases: To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade?
Upgrading software can be costly in terms of both
money and time. Sometimes, new upgrades fail to work on old equipment,
require lots of new learning, or are incompatible with old but important
files. A business or an individual need not purchase every upgrade.
When deciding whether to upgrade to a new software release, a user
should consider the following questions:
- Will this new release solve existing problems?
- Does this release add important capabilities?
- What are the hardware requirements of the new
release? Will it run well on my current system, or will I need
to invest in hardware upgrades as well?
- Is the new release compatible with my old files?
- Has the program changed so substantially that
retraining will be necessary?
- What will be the cost of the above?
- How long has the upgrade been out, and are the
reviews favorable?
- Does the upgrade have any known bugs?
- If I do not upgrade now, will I still be able
to get technical assistance? (Some manufacturers do not continue
to support older releases.)
- If I do not want to upgrade to the new release,
should I stay with the old release or use this opportunity to
move to another product?
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