Nowadays software companies launch newer versions of their software at smaller intervals than they used to. The reason behind it is increased earnings as well as many other benefits, for the companies' off-course, not for the user. This action also causes many problems for users who do not have a very good know-how of computers and software and these people end up paying for the new versions of the software while their existing version is completely usable and working.
This is one of many tactics used by software companies to lure in customers and suck out the money from existing customers. One tactic they use is, that they launch a new version of the program with a totally different and catchy graphical interface, and add lines such as "new and improved" or "with xxx Technology".
This is also a very efficient way to lure customers as when they see that the newer version has something that the older version didn't, and it looks totally different, so they think everything must be. Poor do they know that only the graphical interface has changed and some minor tweaks have been applied and the whole software is the same as before. Sometimes companies stupidly include unnecessary features and functions into their products just to show what they have in different from others or their previous version, not thinking about the consequences which the user has to bare like heavier programs, longer loading times, crashing issues and much mo re.
Another tactic software companies use is, when they release a newer version of the software (specially when its related to the internet or requires internet to first connect to its own servers to run), they render the older version useless, and whenever a user tries to use the program, the program refuses to run and forces the user to download the newer version or upgrade the existing program to a newer version. The user ends up wasting his time and effort downloading the newer version of the software which is sometimes even larger than 100MBs. Though, this mostly happens when the software available for free so mostly the user doesn't pay anything, but it's still pretty annoying.
Antivirus and security companies use this tactic the most. They make their virus definitions unavailable for the earlier versions of the program so that the "Update Failed" error continuously pops up in front of the user, and since it is popping from a security program the user inevi tably gets a bit nervous about the security of his personal data and his computer.
There is almost no way of avoiding these tactics other than conducting proper research before buying any software which may help the user in the long run.
Moazzam Saif is a Pakistani Software Collector and Critic.
Visit http://softwarezondemand.blogspot.com for his software collection and reviews about various softwares.
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