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It looks like QuoteWerks version 4.0 has been shipping
for years - why haven't you released any new versions in so
long?
We get that question from time to time.
See all the new features added to QuoteWerks 4.0:
Usually this question is based on the user's experience with
other software products. Most other software products make a big
deal out of their new version releases making sure to release a
version for every year like 2006, 2007, 2008. The reality is
that these annual version upgrades typically only include a
handful of new features wrapped up in a lot of new packaging and
enticing marketing with a big sticker price slapped on it.
From a business perspective, re-branding a software product each
year places a great demand on a company's resources. The
company needs to write version upgrade data conversion
utilities, update the installer program, implement new
technologies, update the packaging, perform quality control,
etc. Diverting the company's resources to these tasks is costly
to the company and this is what you are mostly paying for - not
for the handful of new features typically included in the annual
version upgrade. In addition to the upgrade cost of the
annual version upgrades you usually incur a cost to have the
upgrade performed. Often, issues arise when installing a version
upgrade due to the wide variety of customer software
configurations and due to the fact that the installer is
changing almost all the files and converting existing data to
new formats. You might ask, with all these costs, why do
these companies release a new version every year? The answer is
that they need the revenue. These companies do not have programs
in place to receive funds in return for providing updates, so
the only way to receive additional revenue from existing
customers is to release a new version every year!
QuoteWerks inline updates shatter the traditional
definition of annual version upgrades in terms of what
you receive with your purchase. Instead of spending time
and financial resources on all the above mentioned "annual
version upgrade" costs, with QuoteWerks we instead invest all of
these resources into new features that our customers can benefit
from. Also, because we just update the software, customers don't
experience the above mentioned issues arising from performing a
"version upgrade".
Since you don't release annual version upgrades, what do you
do?
We created an optional Update Maintenance
Program through which customers can purchase updates to
receive the new major features that we are adding to the product
almost every month. We implemented the Update Maintenance
Program so that we can offer these new features to our customers
as quickly as possible. In fact, as of February 20th, 2008
QuoteWerks 4.0 has been shipping for 43 months (it was released
July 14th, 2004), and during that period, we released 29
updates packed with 330 new features that our users were able to
benefit from during the 43 months.
As part of our updates philosophy, we strongly disagree with
forcing customers to pay annual maintenance on a software
product when they may not need or want the new features. So,
with the QuoteWerks Update Maintenance Program, you only
purchase the Update Maintenance Program when you feel the new
features included in the update is worth paying for. Customers
that do always want to have access to all our updates and
upgrades every month, will be able to receive them for a low
price of 20% per 12 month period.
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