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Or at least I thought it was...
When you buy a software license from our company, you keep the same license whenever you update. Back in the olden days the license and the program were issued on floppy disks. About 1999 we started issuing the program on a CD and the license on a floppy. And now we issue the program on a CD and the license is on a license card for the user to key in when they install.
As I mentioned, we don't issue a new license when a customer updates, so customers with older licenses will continue using the license which is on the floppy. Fortunately, we can email them the same text which is on the floppy so they can type it in and install their license without a floppy drive.
But there is another group. These are the folks with older license who have not purchase an update. The installer for older versions has no means to type in the license. So folks who buy new computers without floppy drives and choose not to update the software have a problem when the installer asks them to insert their license floppy.
Luckily, even back in 1999, we realized that not everyone would have a floppy drive, so we came up with an alternative means of getting the license on the user's computer. What we've been doing for years is creating a file which matches the one on the customer's floppy disk, attaching it to an email, and sending it with the following directions:
This has worked for years. But suddenly I've been getting a rash of people write back and complain that they couldn't open the license file. Where did I say to open it?
Then when I explain that they need to copy and paste it, not open it, they can't figure out how to do that. That leads to about a dozen emails explaining that they try right-clicking on the attachment icon, etc.
Sometimes that genuinely doesn't work because some email programs don't let you. In those cases I tell them to contact their email program manufacturer and have them walk the customer through it. They never want to do that, though. No they have to ask ME. Even though I have no idea what's going on, I'm the expert of everything computer-related.
It was giving me grey hairs until I happened upon a solution.
Now when they can't figure out how to copy and paste a file, I let them know that the installer for the latest version lets them type their license in. And, guess what? As a licensed user, they qualify for a free trial of the latest version. They can try it out for 45 days by typing their license in (no need for laborious and complicated copying and pasting!). If they decide not to purchase it, it simply stops working. In that case, we can certainly try copying and pasting again to get their old version on there.
In every single case the customer has loved the new version and decided to buy it. They win. We win.
I can't believe I didn't think of that sooner.
When you buy a software license from our company, you keep the same license whenever you update. Back in the olden days the license and the program were issued on floppy disks. About 1999 we started issuing the program on a CD and the license on a floppy. And now we issue the program on a CD and the license is on a license card for the user to key in when they install.
As I mentioned, we don't issue a new license when a customer updates, so customers with older licenses will continue using the license which is on the floppy. Fortunately, we can email them the same text which is on the floppy so they can type it in and install their license without a floppy drive.
But there is another group. These are the folks with older license who have not purchase an update. The installer for older versions has no means to type in the license. So folks who buy new computers without floppy drives and choose not to update the software have a problem when the installer asks them to insert their license floppy.
Luckily, even back in 1999, we realized that not everyone would have a floppy drive, so we came up with an alternative means of getting the license on the user's computer. What we've been doing for years is creating a file which matches the one on the customer's floppy disk, attaching it to an email, and sending it with the following directions:
"I've attached a copy of your license file to this email. To install [our program] without a floppy drive, click "Skip" when the installer asks you to insert your floppy license disk. [Our program] will install as a demo.
After the installation is complete, please make sure all copies of [our program] are closed, then copy and paste the attached license file to the top level of the folder where you installed [our program]. In most cases that will be c:\[company name].
The next time you open [our program], it should run as a licensed copy. Please let me know if you have any questions."
After the installation is complete, please make sure all copies of [our program] are closed, then copy and paste the attached license file to the top level of the folder where you installed [our program]. In most cases that will be c:\[company name].
The next time you open [our program], it should run as a licensed copy. Please let me know if you have any questions."
This has worked for years. But suddenly I've been getting a rash of people write back and complain that they couldn't open the license file. Where did I say to open it?
Then when I explain that they need to copy and paste it, not open it, they can't figure out how to do that. That leads to about a dozen emails explaining that they try right-clicking on the attachment icon, etc.
Sometimes that genuinely doesn't work because some email programs don't let you. In those cases I tell them to contact their email program manufacturer and have them walk the customer through it. They never want to do that, though. No they have to ask ME. Even though I have no idea what's going on, I'm the expert of everything computer-related.
It was giving me grey hairs until I happened upon a solution.
Now when they can't figure out how to copy and paste a file, I let them know that the installer for the latest version lets them type their license in. And, guess what? As a licensed user, they qualify for a free trial of the latest version. They can try it out for 45 days by typing their license in (no need for laborious and complicated copying and pasting!). If they decide not to purchase it, it simply stops working. In that case, we can certainly try copying and pasting again to get their old version on there.
In every single case the customer has loved the new version and decided to buy it. They win. We win.
I can't believe I didn't think of that sooner.
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