CONSIDER NEEDS BEFORE MOVING UP TO LATEST VERSIONS OF OLD SOFTWARE.Byline: Dwight Silverman San Francisco Examiner The San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th Century. History 19th century The beginning of the Examiner is a topic of some controversy. It's easy to figure out when it's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a to upgrade a personal computer's hardware. If the hard drive is nearly full and you've tried all the file-paring tricks you know, it's time for a bigger drive. If you're tired of waiting for graphics to download on your World Wide Web browser The program that serves as your front end to the Web on the Internet. In order to view a site, you type its address (URL) into the browser's Location field; for example, www.computerlanguage.com, and the home page of that site is downloaded to you. , better get a faster modem. If the images in Myst bog down bog down Verb [bogging, bogged] to impede physically or mentally Verb 1. bog down - get stuck while doing something; "She bogged down many times while she wrote her dissertation" bog your screen, pony up the bucks for more memory or a faster video card. But deciding when to upgrade software is more tricky. Many people get along using the same programs and never move on to new versions. In some cases, that's just fine. My 85-year-old mother-in-law uses a clunky old MS-DOS MS-DOS in full Microsoft Disk Operating System Operating system for personal computers. MS-DOS was based on DOS, developed in 1980 by Seattle Computer Products. Microsoft Corp. bought the rights to DOS in 1981, and released MS-DOS with IBM's PC that year. version of WordPerfect on her Compaq Presario Presario is a series of desktop computers and notebooks from Compaq. The Presario family of computers was launched for the consumer marketplace in September 1993. Although HP has since acquired Compaq, the Presario name was not discontinued due to its marketability. , even though she's picked up a copy of WordPerfect for Windows 6.1. That's because the church whose newsletter she helps write uses an even older DOS version of WordPerfect. But many folks laboring with older versions of programs don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what they're missing. It's similar to horse owners at the turn of the century who didn't know they really needed an automobile - until they got one. Although they are usually less expensive than new hardware, software upgrades are often not cheap. That's particularly true for high-end products, such as business-level word processors, spreadsheets and databases. For example, if you own a copy of Microsoft's Word 6.0 for Windows 3.1 and want the Windows 95 version, you have the right to a lower-priced upgrade package for about $90. Most folks don't casually make a $90 purchase every day, and the fact that the ``full'' price for Word 7.0 is $300 is little consolation. There are, however, some definite signs that you should make the leap and dig deep into your pockets to make that buy. Frustration with the limitations of your software is the first and most obvious sign that it's time for a change. If you're surfing the Web with an old browser and not seeing sites in the way the authors intended, it's time to move up. If your word-processing tasks have gone from writing letters to writing papers that require footnotes and indices, better upgrade. If your software is unstable - crashing, locking up or otherwise not behaving as it should - you should consider an upgrade. But before spending money, make certain the problem lies in the software. Check to see if the publisher has a fix for the problems. This usually comes in the form of a software ``patch'' - a small program you run that actually alters the target software. Most patch upgrades are free. Look on the publisher's Web site. If you use a program both at home and at work, the versions should match. Upgrade at home if you use the latest version at work. The opposite, though, is not easy to do, since many corporate computer gods disapprove dis·ap·prove v. dis·ap·proved, dis·ap·prov·ing, dis·ap·proves v.tr. 1. To have an unfavorable opinion of; condemn. 2. To refuse to approve; reject. v.intr. if you slap your own software on a company machine. If you upgrade your operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. - particularly if you go from MS-DOS to a graphical system such as Windows - you should change your most frequently used applications to match the new operating system. The one exception to this - and it's a big exception - is going from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95. That's because the vast majority of Windows 3.1 applications work just fine with Windows 95. And except for a handful of titles, most new Windows 95 programs don't yet offer a huge magnitude of difference in terms of useful features. Word 7.0 is a good example; except for a couple of bells and whistles A slang English term for exceptional features in some product. In the computer field, it typically refers to functions in software that may be greatly appreciated by some users, even though they may not be necessary most of the time. , it's not a great leap over Word 6.0. By all means, investigate what Windows 95 applications have to offer. But you might find your Windows 3.1 software will work just fine, unless you run into other problems I've mentioned here. In some cases, you can upgrade inexpensively by moving to a different program within the same category. Many software publishers offer low-cost upgrades if you switch from a competitor's product. You'll have to show some proof that you actually own the competing program. Depending on the kind of program and your needs, you might also save money by switching from a commercial program to a shareware Software on the "honor system." The concept is that users try a product, and if they like it, they voluntarily pay a set registration fee or make a donation to the program's creator. There are tens of thousands of shareware programs; some fantastic, some awful. title. For example, Adobe's excellent Photoshop 3.0 software for manipulating pictures sells for about $600. But there's a nifty, shareware Windows-based clone clone, group of organisms, all of which are descended from a single individual through asexual reproduction, as in a pure cell culture of bacteria. Except for changes in the hereditary material that come about by mutation, all members of a clone are genetically of Photoshop called Paint Shop Pro 4.0 that sells for about $70. It doesn't do everything that Photoshop will, but it comes close enough to satisfy casual users. A test-drive edition of an earlier version, 3.12, is available at http://www.jasc.com/. |
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