business plus price

[wesleythorne]

hi, just spoke to sales about our free upgrade for v9, we use v7 developer and have it split on two machines, one for order processing and one for maintenance.
This has issues with stock control not working or being accessible on two machines.

To get this to work properly I will need a second user licence for £300 + vat.
I have cover so get a free business plus upgrade but the £300 on top is a bit steep for a feature that should work out of the box.

I dont see why actinc should charge for a second user licence for something that was a fault in v7 and never been properly addresses. IF you split the ordering and maintenance as it says in the manual it should work. £300 is a lot for this feature.

Having spent some time testing the beta and alpha on this feature I find it staggering that such an amount can be charged, what a waste of my time!

[Ginnys Attic]

You wouldn't expect to buy 1 cake and eat 2 would you?

I do agree that £300 + vat does seem a bit steep but quite normal with any software and if you want it on more than one machine you would be required to purchase the software (licence) twice so it does seem reasonable that Actinic charge for this although £300 + vat is as you say a bit steep.

[wesleythorne]

hi, i wouldn't expect to eat two for the price of one but if I am told i can use the software on 2 pc's when i bought it to download and maintenance I expect it to work.

If you split the downloads and maintenance it does not support stock control, this is a major flaw in any eccomerace package and to be charged £300 to fix the problem is too much.

If i sold someone a car and then charged extra for the engine that would not be acceptable!

[TraceyHand]

fact of the matter is...stock control as you (and I) see it is NOT a feature of Actinic.
Never had been...and won't be in the foreseeable future.

[pinbrook]

This has issues with stock control not working or being accessible on two machines.

To get this to work properly I will need a second user licence for £300 + vat.

lots of features don't work if you split catalog or business across 2 machines - not only stock control

If you want a true multi user environment you need to buy the multi user product

[wesleythorne]

hi, multi user it must be then, does any one know if multi user needs additional keys per pc or is there a master key for as many pcs as you require.
thanks
wesley

[cdicken]

OK

v8 had Business Multi-User which cost £1249 and then an extra £300 for each additional seat.

v9 has Business Plus, which costs £1249, and you can connect additional Business Plus Users for £300 each.

Hope this helps.

[wesleythorne]

thanks
will take a look

[taliesyn]

lots of features don't work if you split catalog or business across 2 machines - not only stock control

Tell me about it. We're in exactly the same boat. For v8, every time we transfer a snapshot from the Catalog maintenance machine to the order Processing one, we have to reset the manual order sequence by delving into the database files, mess about with e-mail templates etc. etc.

It's a major flaw as far as I'm concerned, and bearing in mind the price we've been quoted for upgrading from Business v8 to a 2 user version of V9, even though we've got cover (so we get the standard v9 business upgrade anyway), and every single time we've contacted support bar once, we've had to solve the problem ourselves, we're seriously considering moving elsewhere.

To be told we've got to pay x amount just for multi-user capability but no users, and then x more for each user seems to be extracting it somewhat. I've worked in accounting software development for nearly 25 years, and it seems a very strange concept to have to pay for a multi user system which is still essentially a single user system unless you pay some more for each user!

We've been using Actinic for years through various trials and tribulations, and this is the first time I've ever given serious thought to throwing in the towel with it.

[fleetwood]

Why not get a quote for the Enterprise version - using real server technology.
That will make the cost of multi-user extra user seem like a drop in the ocean!

The fact is that multi-user capability will always cost more.
The only 'rip-off' factor, is that V8 MU was touted and charged for as having multi user capabilities, when in reality in didn't (only 1 logged in user could edit the catalog at a time).

It seems like they might have got it right with V9 (fingers crossed).

[taliesyn]

I'm not debating that it will cost more, that's expected, and it's not the actual cost that's bothering me.

The debate surrounds the fact that the separate order processing/catalog maintenance machine scenario has been touted for years, and has never really worked properly, and now that the multi user versions are available and apparently sorted, you have to pay for a load of unneeded and spurious functionality like multi-site etc.. that's included with the plus edition and then pay extra to be able to use the supposedly multi user system that you've just forked out for in multi user mode.

[Duncan Rounding]

What's missing is a single site version of MU.
Its seems there's a market for Business being able to have attached clients.

[dave_finlayson]

then pay extra to be able to use the supposedly multi user system that you've just forked out for in multi user mode.

It did surprise me that you don't get 2 users as standard with Business Plus, admittedly for the extra wonga you pay over Business you are getting multi-site capabilities but it would have been nice to at least be able to use the multi user system from the off. As it stands, we can't even test the multi user capabilities before buying. I don't have any real plans to go multi user but I could have been persuaded if I could have played with the functionality and seen how nicely it played with our network.

[jont]

It did surprise me that you don't get 2 users as standard with Business Plus..... I could have been persuaded if I could have played with the functionality and seen how nicely it played with our network.

Yep - this would lead to increased sales of the additional clients IMO as it would be invaluable and required by others in the office.

[TraceyHand]

I I don't have any real plans to go multi user but I could have been persuaded if I could have played with the functionality and seen how nicely it played with our network.

I'm sure many people agree with this actually. Me, for one other.