"ACT Received Horrid Reviews, is the 2008 Edition Any Better?" Part 1
A question from a www.WhatsNewWithACT.com subscriber who wonders if he should upgrade.
DISCLAIMER: This was going to be a single post, but then I realized I needed more space…”don’t clog the blog”…so here is part one of two.
I seriously considered Sage ACT!, but the 2007 version received horrid reviews, particularly from long-time users. I’m curious as to whether you feel the 2008 edition has addressed those extensive criticisms – and specifically how.
-Larry
Larry, you make a good point. As the old saying goes, “a bad word travels faster than a good one”, right? Especially on the Internet.
I would say the majority of comments are from legacy (pre SQL Verison) ACT users, those who have been loyal for years. (I’ll address the others shortly). ACT became a critical tool for their business success, and they faithfully upgraded with relative ease year after year.
Needless to say, they didn’t take very well to the changes with the SQL technology introduced 3 years ago (ACT 2005). I believe there to be 3 main reasons for this:
1.) User interface changes. With the new technology come new opportunities and new challenges for the software developers. The user interface did a good job emulating the experience known for years in previous versions, however it didn’t preserve all, and introduced additional clicks for certain functions when compared to the legacy version.
2.) Speed. Everything s-l-o-w-e-d down when compared with legacy versions of ACT. This was due to SQL and .NET Microsoft technologies required to run ACT, this required hardware upgrades for many. Since 2005 version, these speed concerns have been addressed (for the most part), and hardware has gotten faster. However, running with two other Microsoft technologies, can still be tricky.
3.) Converting legacy databases. ACT loyalists would buy the upgrade, hit next a few times at the installation prompts, open the database (which would automatically convert), and they were (for the most part) off and running. Not so with SQL version of ACT, it was no longer a conversion, it was a m-i-g-r-a-t-i-o-n, and not just the database itself but all the supplemental files that make the system so effective (layouts, templates, reports, etc) this means that their experience would be much different than previous upgrades. Many didn’t plan their upgrade…er uh migration…afterall it should be even easier than the last installation, with all this new SQL technology, right? The truth is, this is a very elaborate process, involving quite a few steps, and should truthfully be done by someone who does it for a living, afterall it is your business, right? [I even wrote an ebook "from the trenches" outlining what must be done to prep and migrate successfully...and full of disclaimers 
]
In tomorrow’s post I’ll talk about new users, Sage’s response to the criticism from where I sit, and what I think about 2008 release (should Larry buy?). In the meantime, feel free to make your comments below.
Until tomorrow,
Travis
PS: Want more details on ACT Database Software?
Checkout my no frills review
at http://www.WhatsNewWithACT.com
