The software industry has thrived for the past 35 years on releasing new versions of popular programs and then sat back smiling as we all are forced to pay to upgrade our computers to work with the latest package.
It was costly in terms of time and money and caused problems when one version wouldn’t work with others. Even within one firm’s suite (Microsoft Office) multiple versions of popular packages like Excel, Word and Outlook wouldn’t “play nicely” with each other.
Would you like to join me and consign all these version problems to the wastepaper basket of history?
Many software companies like Microsoft and MYOB have decided to change the way they sell software from a pay-once and download the package to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. This is more like a subscription – you make small regular payments for continued ongoing access.
The benefits for you are that you know your ongoing costs and there are no big payments to upgrade. Plus the software company make continuous, small improvements to their software so that you get incremental improvements all the time rather than having to learn one huge new update every few years.
Newer software companies like Xero haven’t had to make this big change because when they started they decided to use the SaaS model – lucky them! It’s much harder to change from the old to the new way of selling and using software.
New ways of working
Like the software companies, users like you and I also have to adjust to these changes. If you still have Microsoft Office 2007 installed on your computer it is time to change.
Old software versions are vulnerable because hackers work out ways to get in, your version won’t work with newer installations at your clients’ offices and eventually, the vendor will stop supporting that version leaving you high and dry if your computer crashes and you cannot open a document.
SaaS is also a new way of working for us. Instead of opening software saved on our computer hard drive, today we can open a web browser and get straight into Excel or Word or Outlook.
The open time is really fast compared to booting up from your hard drive and it means you can get to your work when you’re not in the office – all you need is the logins to your company’s server on the web. How easy is that?
Well – I’ll be honest – it takes a little bit of getting used to. I reflexively used to open software from the computer hard drive, but I am learning how to work in this new way.
One of the best things I found was that I could simultaneously work on a document with a colleague – and see their changes as they typed! That was really delightful the first time I used the feature. And now I can work with clients in this way – we both stay in our offices, get on the phone and can both watch the document update in real time.
Are you ready to join me in retiring old versions of Microsoft Office?
Please say yes!
Recent Comments