Our existing users are our most precious resource, and thus I don't actually email them with update info until I'm 100% certain that the version works well.
Thus, the newsletter went to the email address of people who had downloaded AC in the past - but I didn't send it to the list of our users who we know have purchased AC nor did I send it to the email address of this board as yet, as I wanted to be sure the migration process was as painless as possible.
Guess what... migration is trickier than we anticipated, more folks are contacting us for help, and thus our Tech Support folks aren't as immediately available to solve the issues as they need to be for our exisiting customers.
Here is an update on where we are at with the V4 release:
* V4 alpha (4.0.36) was released on 9/25/08
* V4 beta (4.0.58) was released 2/9/09
* V4 (4.0.58) was officially released on 2/19 (Thu) at 1PM along with the Update Alert Notice (UAN). The UAN is the alert that pops up every 15 days saying if the version being used is up to date, or if there is a newer version available.
* A newsletter to folks that had downloaded AC in the past, went out on 2/21 (Sat) at 9PM.
* Because of a significant call volume increase and a delay getting back to users needing help, UAN was turned OFF on 2/23 (Mon) around 6PM (although V4 is still officially released - we just aren't alerting people that it is until we can address the common issues that are making some installations tricky).
The most common issues we are finding are:
* People installing AC to a different location than their existing version. For example installing AC V4 to Drive C when it is actually elsewhere - making it appear that imported items are now gone (they aren't- they just aren't in the correct directory and need to be manually moved by us).
* Many different network configurations, a good number are not the expected set up of AC (which is at C:\Program Files\Amazing Charts on the main computer).
* People not logged in as admin during installation and migration.
* Migration difficulties with some users' exisiting data - some users have gotten various errors and can't proceed with migration. Once migration is denied they aren't sure how to go back and start the migration process again, or roll back to a working version - so they are stuck and can't use AC until they can reach us. (We are looking at the rare database (less than 5% of migrations) that aren't automatically migrating.
* Permission issues with SBS 2003/2008
Thus, we are working now to make the migration process smoother - though as discussed higher in this thread and others, most folks are able to migrate without issue, and are much happier with V4. For now, if you are considering updating, I'd wait a bit as we determine how best to handle the increased need for help in case you are one of the folks who run into trouble.
Jon
