I hear what you say but second hand computers are not worth much and 
upgrading when you don't need to allows you to hang on while a couple of 
various upgrades occur with both software and hardware. There has to be 
a balance otherwise you'd be spending money upgrading every 4 months.
The amount of money to upgrade to new computers and software won't vary 
much over a 3 year period so why spend all that money every year or two.
Obviously, if new software will perform that much better, or similarly 
the hardware, then you have a genuine reason to spend that money.
I have many clients still running XP on 5 year old PC's happily doing 
what is required. Some have deliberately bypassed Vista to Windows 7. 
Proving upgrades aren't always the best option.
We may be 'old fashioned' but I haven't seen anything in Versions 9, 10 
or 11 that would greatly enhance my client's businesses over 8.5v2.
I know that probably doesn't sit well with some developers but my 
clients are happy.

On 25/01/11 5:31 PM, Richard S. Russell wrote:
> On 2011 Jan 25, at 0:16, Lee wrote:
>
>> I've since read filemaker's explanation and its obvious there is no way it will work. I've already advised 2 clients to not bother upgrading their iMacs unless they're prepared to upgrade filemaker.
>> Both have decided that the solution is more important and they're existing machines are working fine. They don't want to mess around with changes to their screen views either.
>> They would have the extra costs of upgrading filemaker along with their new iMacs costs.
>> Problem solved, do nothing.
>
> More properly, problem postponed.
>
> I hope your clients are setting aside money for upgrades down the road, because the day will come when one or another factor (hardware, software, OS, connectivity, etc.) is going to become insistent, and then they're going to have multiple things to deal with all at once. When (not if) that occasion arises, it's very important to have a transition plan in place, because if anything goes wrong, it's most likely the last thing changed that caused it.
>
> I personally always encourage all of my clients to keep up to date on everything, because the various components co-evolve, like bees and flowers. I chalk up the cost to the same sort of common-sense expense that people more readily understand when you paint it in terms of changing the oil and getting periodic tune-ups for your car; it's a relatively small cost to protect a good-sized investment.
>
> Of course, since I work mainly with non-profit organizations that are chronically strapped for cash, I have a lot more experience seeing my advice ignored than followed, but I still feel morally obliged to give it.

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