It isn't that so much. The reason behind it is "NVJ" features: New Version Justification. What possible reason is there to upgrade any word processor or spreadsheet program when there hasn't been anything truly new in them since, well, let me see, 10-15 years? But companies have to "innovate" to create a reason to buy a new version to keep a revenue stream. Nothing at all wrong with that.
What's wrong is periodically pulling the rug out from under customers to force them to "upgrade". You know, in most states in the US, it's a crime that results in prison time for an auto mechanic to tell a customer that s/he needs a "repair" that s/he doesn't really need, or to deliberately break something in order to charge a fee to fix it.
But software vendors get away with this kind of crap all the time--more or less in collusion with hardware vendors. IMO, it's a moral crime, even if it isn't (yet) a statutory one.
Ken Dibble www.stic-cil.org _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
