COMPULIFE® Software, Inc.The August 2000 disk update will be processed Wednesday, July 26th and Thursday, July 27th 2000. Disks will be shipped Friday, July 28th. You should have the August Update in your office Tuesday, August 1st. The Internet monthly update will be posted some time on July 28th to our two monthly update websites.
Unless you have made arrangements to purchase your diskettes, please return your “June disks” ONLY AFTER you have successfully installed this July 2000 Update. June disks are your backup in case you should have problems installing the July edition.
Internet Monthly UpdatesFor those who hate returning disks there are two alternatives to eliminate the problem. One alternative is to switch over to obtaining monthly updates by Internet. Not only will you not have the expense and hassle of returning disks, you will save $50 per year in license fees.
Before switching to updates by Internet we require that you complete a special addendum to the license agreement called the “Internet Update Endorsement”. Once you return that to us we will send you the “Internet Master Disk” which you will need to be able to process the “MONTHLY.CMP” file that you will then be downloading each month.
If you want to switch over to Internet monthly updates, please call our office at (800) 798-3488. Our staff will send you the Internet Update Endorsement.
Disk Purchase ProgramThe other way to avoid returning disks each month is to pre-purchase them for $21 per year ($1.75 per month). If you do so you can keep them for future reference, throw them away or return them for a credit (once each year) when you are invoiced for the next twelve boxes. This is less than it costs to mail back disks each month.
Printed Bulletins End December 2000As we have advised earlier this year, Compulife will no longer ship printed bulletins with our monthly disk updates effective January 2001. As we now do, a .TXT file copy of the bulletin is on your monthly disk update and that file can be read using the “View/Print File” option found on the Compulife Master Menu.
In addition, the January 2001 monthly bulletin will be posted to our update site and from that point on, a running history of past bulletins will be available to those wanting to read back.
Term4Sale Listing FeesNew participants to www.term4sale.com can purchase a zip code listing for $1 per month, assuming that there are not already 3 people listed in that specific zip code. However, zip code fees are always paid in advance for the year, until we reach July. At that point, to be listed, you need to pay the balance of the current year and the entire year following. So, to be listed from July 1st on, you would need to pay $6 for the balance of 2000, and $12 for 2001.
New Windows ComparisonsDuring June we made a number of minor improvements to the new Windows comparison program. The program remains available to subscribers as the “UPDATE3.CMP” file at our mid-month update page. Anyone is welcome to download the UPDATE3.CMP file and try the new Windows comparison program.
General Release Fall 2000We anticipate that the first general release of the new Windows software will take place for September 2000.
As we have announced earlier, once the new version is being used by a sufficient number of subscribers, and once we are satisfied that it is completely reliable, we will substitute it for the current Windows version that you get with your monthly update.
That substitution will be done in two steps. First, those being updated by Internet will have the new version included with their Internet monthly update for September. Second, the new version will be put on the disk update for October or November.
We are breaking this release into two steps to ensure that the support calls generated by the new version do not swamp our telephone support capability.
Further, if other bugs and problems show up when we do a more mass distribution, we know that those who have the ability to update monthly by Internet, also have the ability to use this mid-month update facility. Program upgrades will be posted as necessary and can be downloaded quickly.
Finally, to those who receive disk updates, who want that latest Windows version, you will also be able to take the newest Windows version from our mid-month site because we will continue to post the file for you to download.
Fall Back PositionAnd finally, for those wanting to give the new program a try, and we hope that many will, there is still an important safety valve in the new Windows program. You can select, from the Master Menu’s option menu, either the Windows comparisons or the DOS comparisons. In other words, you can go right back to having the Windows version call the DOS comparison module just as it does now. If in doubt you can flip back to the DOS module and double check your values. If you are satisfied that the Windows version is working properly, you can flip right back to using the Windows comparison. We like the safety of our built-in Windows/DOS redundancy.
Finally, the free month offer for being the first to find a rate error stands. This means that if you use the new Windows program, and find a rate quotation mistake, you get a free month for being first to report it.
