We've become slightly disenchanted with the slow, slow progress of Now Contact - Up to Date. There have been acknowledged bugs (in Keywords, among other things) for over 2 years, and every few months Now Software (fka PowerOn Software) claims a new version is forthcoming. Today this: we have to choose between Tiger and Now Contact, at least for a few months.
If only we didn't have over 6,000 contacts in our Now Contact database, a database legacy from OS 7.6 Touchbase days. We could live without Now Up to Date, it is only an average calendar program, slightly better than iCal, and comparable to Entourage, but we depend on Now Contact.
As the 'alpha techno-dog' at DLA, Inc., BagPromo.com, and B12 Partners, LLC, I want to install Tiger sooner, rather than later! I guess I'll have to move the Now Contact servers to an older Mac (probably the Yikes! G4 that is currently serving as an expensive fax machine/print server/iTunes server), and leave a few machines with OS 10.3.x.
I realize software engineering is difficult, however, I'm still disappointed by Now Software.
Now Up-to-Date and Contact version 5 is in the final rounds of beta testing. Version 5 supports Mac OS X 10.2 through 10.4 (“Tiger”) and will be available by June 2005.The current shipping version, 4.5.3, is not Tiger compatible. We recommend that customers who rely on Now Up-to-Date and Contact wait until version 5 has been released before installing Tiger.
John Wallace, president of Now Software says, “We've been testing NUDC v.5 since late last year and we're working hard to get it out shortly after Tiger ships. Quality is critical and we will be running all of our tests against the released version of Tiger to make sure that everything works properly. We're looking forward to getting NUDC v.5 into everyone's hands.”
vs.
Now Contact
Update from MacWorld:
That plan to charge for 5.0 has upset customers who either don’t want to wait until June before upgrading or don’t want to pay. But Tiger compatibility only scratches the surface of what 5.0 can do, said Randy Murray, Now Software’s Director of Marketing.Only one small part of the upgrade
“Tiger is the smallest new feature in the product,” Murray told MacCentral. “We’ve been working on version 5 for about a year. It’s time for a new release with new features.”
Murray said that Now Up-to-Date & Contact v5.0 will sport team scheduling capabilities that will allow you to take any number of Now Up-to-Date & Contact, display their calendars simultaneously and do meeting scheduling all from one screen. Also new to this release is a new Now Server Manager application that simplifies the setup of servers to coordinate Now Up-to-Date & Contact group use.
“We’ve made a significant update to the user interface so it’s simplified,” Murray said. “The menu structure is much easier to use, and the software has an all-new look and feel. There have been literally hundreds of speed improvements, fixes and enhancements all throughout the product.”
