Hi guys,
I am a new user to AC. I've played with the program a lot, and am best friends with a well established user of AC. I have reviewed a number of the threads regarding this EULA issue. I can understand the sense of "ownership" that many AC users have, since a large number of them have used for a long time.
It would appear that you all actually do own your copies of AC. Even if Dr. Bertman moves to a subscription policy, he cannot delete your existing copy from your computers. However, he can choose to force users to subscribe for updates, and simply deny updates to those who don't subscribe. In fact, many of you already have programs like this: most anti-virus software uses this arrangement, along with Quicken, Microsoft and hosts of other vendors.
He can choose to do whatever he wants, since he owns the company. He can choose to sell the company to Microsoft or Sage or Logician or whomever will buy. He could just dissolve the company.
I think for a nominal fee of $500, it's not too much to ask for such a wonderful product. I think most of us in medicine can afford this fee. Also, consider the fact that tech support, product development, and other services offered by AC are not free. These services involve overhead/expenditures on the part of Dr. Bertman. Any of us who own our practices (me for example), can understand that everything costs money. When compared to horrible EMR's (like Logician) which costs tens of thousands of dollars and several thousands to maintain a subscription, I think AC is an incredible bargain.
No offense to Roy or Bert for my opinions above. I just hope some of the users who are posting comments could try to keep things in perspective. If Dr. Bertman goes around pulling licenses and denying users the right to purchase/subscribe to his program, then he will develop a very poor reputation. It seems like he has worked hard to maintain a very good reputation for this product, and I can't imagine he'll actively try to destroy it.
Respectfully,
Adam Lauer, DO
