[WEB4LIB] Software upgrades

[Johnson Darryl]

There are too many variables, in my opinion, to try to create a formal
policy.

However, one can consider the inevitability of upgrading just to keep
current and to ensure that software works with (i) current and/or near
future hardware and (ii) current and/or near future software. For example,
if we are considering a move to Windows 2000, we may decide to upgrade to
Office 2000 because we are more certain that it will work with Windows 2000
than we are certain that Office 4.x will work. Similarly, if we are
upgrading hardware to the latest Athlon CPU, we might want to upgrade
software as well. Same goes for adding other hardware such as tape drives,
DVDs, CD-RW, scanners, etc.

Does one need to upgrade every time the vendor comes out with a new release?
Probably not. But one doesn't want to get too far behind either. 

Some products have incentive programs to upgrade that can save considerable
money: the upgrade from version 2.4 to 2.5 only costs $50. If you skip the
upgrade, the next version will cost you $200 if you go from version 2.4 to
version 2.6, but only another $50 if you go from 2.5 to 2.6. Although you
can get "nickled and dimed" to death with htese minor incremental upgrades.

What is the feature set of the new relase? How compatible it is with a
previous version? For example, Word 2000 uses basically the same format as
Word 97. However Access 2000 moved to support unicode, whereas previous
version of Access did not, so the file format is quite different. We might
not worry too much about upgrading Word, but we might want to upgrade
Access.

What is the tolerance of the user community for another upgrade? What about
the technical support staff? If everyone is stressed out, perhaps one might
skip an upgrade just to let everyone get comfortable with the current
version. OTOH, if it's been a while since anything was changed, it might be
a good time to upgrade. Certainly, the technical support staff should be
doing thorough evals of new releases before they commit to a purchase, and
if they are already overworked, they may not have resources to do this.

Some people have philosophies they state like this: Never go with a 1.0
release of anything. Wait for the first Service Pack. Wait for other users
to find the bugs. etc. Some say: Always get the latest version as soon as it
comes out. Part of this is a reflection of the character of your
organization. Is it conservative, reactionary or leading edge?

Some thoughts. YMMV
--
    Darryl Johnson                    Darryl.Johnson at nlc-bnc.ca
    ITS, User Support
    National Library of Canada
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lin Light [mailto:holight at lakeland.lib.mi.us]
> Sent: Friday, July 21, 2000 10:08 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: [WEB4LIB] Software upgrades
> 
> 
> A simple question but maybe no simple answer.
>     Upgrading/updating your software, what governs your move to
> upgrade?  Do you have a policy that guides you through the process of
> deciding when?  I know there are a mulitude of reasons for 
> changing, but
> is it possible to develop a policy to fall back on when you choice or
> not to upgrade.
> 
> 
> --
> Lin Light
> Head of
> Technical Services/Automation
> Herrick District Library
> 300 S. River Ave.
> Holland, MI 49423
> llight at lakeland.lib.mi.us
> Voice-616.355.3727
> Fax-616.355.1426
> 
>