To Upgrade or Not, Follow Up…
August 17, 2006 by Travis
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Well, I’m not to sure if people were confused or afraid to reply to the previous blog post, but I got a bunch of emails with feedback, so I would like to do two things.
1.) Show you how to post a blog reply
2.) Share feedback I got from my “Upgrade or not to Upgrade” blog post.
Watch this video to get the full details. You’ll notice at the end of each blog post there is a link which may say “No Comments” or “3 Comments” click that link. You’ll then be taken to a section entitled “Leave a Reply” and it says you must be logged in to post a comment, (I’ve tried to disable the requirement to login, but it won’t cooperate!), click the logged in link. If you have registered already, submit your login and password. If you have not, click the register link, and fill in your username and email, and the system will email you a password, you can then login and submit your comment.
I did receive quite a few emails as a result of the most recent blog post (I asked those who signed up at www.FreeACTtips.com about this upgrade question), and I wanted to share one email with you.
Jim writes:
I found that when I upgraded it took forever to put things right. There was the issue that my system took for ever to get things done, (later I figured out that I needed more RAM) Unfortunately it took me forever to figure this out and I lost what is left of my hair in the process (I pulled it all out).Trying to find simple answers to questions about ACT seem to always cost money. Bottom line - I figured thing out and now I am on my way. I am not the only person to experience headaches with upgrading. My brother told me today he experienced a problem with his upgrade too and we nearly went over to the dark side because we were so feed up.
Oh well.
Jim
Jim,
Thanks for your comment. The truth is, the upgrade is no longer so simple. Upgrading the software is one thing, but when it comes to upgrading your database and associated files I encourage people to look at it as a migration. Since ACT! 2005, Sage Software is now using Microsoft technologies of SQL and dot Net. These technologies allow software developers to build software faster and offer more robust features. The challenge is bringing the technology over from other legacy platforms. ACT 6 and older was built on legacy tools, and therefore the days of buying the upgrade that takes 15-20 minutes to apply are over.
It is true that the latest versions of ACT! require more hardware. If your computer is new in the last couple years, you shouldn’t have a problem. I recommend a minimum of 1GB of RAM, and 20GB of free disk space (for installation and database space) as well as a 3Ghz processor to get decent performance. There is one product I know of which is specifically designed to increase the performance of ACT! 2005 and newer.
If you enjoy troubleshooting, and don’t mind learning a bit along the way, you may be a candidate for trying it yourself. Allow me to encourage you to setup a test environment first, and see how it goes, and then when you are ready migrate your production database.
If, however, you are the type that use technology as a necessity only (or fall somewhere between the two), you may be best suited to get a Sage Software approved ACT! Certified Consultant. These are people whose livelihood depends on their ability to make the database sing for their customers. You may be much further ahead to hire one just to upgrade your system and current database.
Jim, it seems like you got it figured out, which is good to hear. I’m curious to know, if you had to do the upgrade over again (can’t run legacy technology for too long and remain as competitive), what would you have done differently?
Others of you with comments and feedback, please share them. (Here is the tutorial if you need a guide, I’ll show you how).
-Travis
www.ACTasap.net
www.FreeACTTips.com
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