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Apr 1999
Soft Serve Direct
Box 389, Magrath,
Alberta, Canada T0K 1JO |
Phone (403) 388-4332
Fax (403) 758-3505
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pdate or get dated. Keeping up with the Jones's.
Online Software Upgrades. In the old days, 'updates'
(read new features and bug fixes) were distributed on the squeaky wheel principle via
mailed out diskettes and later CD's. Today technology permits us to upgrade directly from
the internet. For example, see:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/default.asp
for a list of Microsoft Windows update programs available for your system. Software
development companies love it because it minimizes their technical support costs. Users
appreciate the ability to directly access tech info and downloadable drivers. However, you
must be careful to download the correct driver for your system hardware and apply it
properly. And you have to find the needle of a download page out in that haystack of the 'world
wild web'.
Some programs (e.g. anti-virus programs) require regular updates to work properly.
Other applications (e.g. accounting software) will work for years before you need to fix
it (if it isn't broke, why fix it?), but sometimes these things sneak up on you. Older
Simply Accounting versions, for example, won't accept dates past 01/01/99 - probably a
derivative of the Y2K bug. Their solution? Pay for a newer version of their program. Hmmm.
On balance, however, we feel that users will be better off keeping software up to date,
especially if it is offered for free (for now).
Not sure where to look? For updated software and hardware drivers, try first finding
www.[companyname].com, replacing
[companyname] with the name of the manufacturer ( e.g. microsoft, corel, netscape,
ssdirect, etc). You can get quite good at finding the desired pages with just a little
practice. Failing that, try a search on a search engine like www.google.com. Other good sites listing updated drivers
are www.winfiles.com and www.download.com. Or you can check our SSDirect/Acer
AOpen product driver summary page: www.ssdirect.com/ca/drivers.htm.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
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