awd@dbase.A-T.COM (Alastair Dallas) (02/15/90)
I have been asked for an "official" statement about upgrading dBASE IV 1.0 to 1.1. I apologize for the delay, but "official" takes longer than "off-the-cuff." In fact, this may or may not be "official," and it is far from "definitive." Enough weasel-wording: If you bought dBASE IV 1.0 prior to some date (my source said January 1), you will get dBASE IV 1.1 free. Likewise, if you buy dBASE IV 1.0 within 60 days of the First Customer Ship of 1.1, you get a free upgrade. If we don't ship 1.1 soon, there is a potential for people who buy 1.0 today to miss both of these windows. Obviously, we recognize that announcing either a first customer ship > Jan 1 + 60 days or an extension of the Jan 1 date would have an immediate negative impact on sales, so we haven't make such as announcement. The official ship date for 1.1 is "soon," and we don't think any 1.0 owners will have to pay for an upgrade. I'd like to stress that I am not an official spokesman for Ashton-Tate. My advice is to verify the free upgrade before buying a copy of 1.0 any time from now until 1.1 ships. Hope that answers the question, because that's as "official" as I'm likely to get. (Don't shoot me, I'm just a programmer.) /alastair/
awd@dbase.A-T.COM (Alastair Dallas) (02/16/90)
I'm sorry: My "official" announcement of the upgrade policy appears to be wrong. My source was in A-T corporate marketing, and I thought he understood he was speaking for the record. Everything I said may still be correct, but it doesn't matter, because: Ashton-Tate is currently running ads whose fine print says that if you buy 1.0 today you get 1.1 free. Period. Sorry if there was any confusion. (The exact quote is: "A free update to version 1.1 (standard edition and Developer's Edition only) if you buy dBASE IV 1.0 or dBASE IV Developer's Edition now. This offer applies to dBASE IV Developer's Edition packages purchased between September 1, 1989 and the first customer ship date of dBASE IV 1.1. Offer good in the U.S. and Canada only." This is from the "With dBASE IV, everyone's a critic" ad in InfoWorld, Feb. 12, p.14.) /alastair/