Oh my! Whenever I receive a barrage of email from panicked Act! users I can pretty much assume that Swiftpage sent out a new mailing went out. The latest one informed users of Act V21 that their Act software is “being retired.” Rest assured, there is no need for immediate panic but you might want to be aware of a few changes.
When software is “retired” it means that no new changes will be made to the software. What does that mean to the end-user? Quite simply, if you use products that integrate to Act such as Google and Microsoft Office they might stop working sometime in the future. That means that if Google makes a change to it’s platform Act will most probably stop integrating with it. And, because Act v21 is on “retirement” no future updates will be released to fix it.
There is also another implication of retirement; Swiftpage will no longer offer you any kind of support. For example, if you need help reinstalling your software they will no longer be willing to help you.
So, do you need to upgrade today? No. As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” However, if you find yourself with a compatibility issue there is no fix. Period.
Tech Benders will continue to support any and all versions of Act going back to Act v1.0 for DOS. Yup, we still have our old floppy disks! However, there are some issues that we just can’t fix. For example, if you have Act v2005 – Act v17 we will not be able to get your old, outdated license to install on a new machine. Or if you have Act v6 please don’t ask us to try to install it on your brand new shiny Windows 11 laptop.
If you have questions on this or need additional information please reach out to the friendly Act Consultants at Tech Benders!
