Switching Away From Bradford Technologies (clickforms) Bad Service

[Riick]

Deleted, would be repetitious

 

[JTip]

and you *don't* ever own it.

You don't own any software.

 

[Riick]

You don't own any software.

As far as I was concerned, I *owned* the Clickforms software I used back in the 80's and 90's.
Once I bought it, it couldn't be "turned off" from the home office. The appraisal formfilling software,
as well as the version of MS Office I currently use, is owned in the very same way.
Paying an annual (or monthly) fee to keep the code running is renting the software at an excessive price.
Look at MS Office, up until recently, it might cost you $500-$700 initially, but there's no annual toll
paid to keep this much more sophisticated code up and running.

Tell me (with a straight face) that writing and maintaining form-filling software that does nothing
more complex than checking UAD formatting, checking spelling, checking a several hundred UAD "rules",
(comma goes here, this number has to be less than that number, this has to be only 18 letters long, etc)
does some arithmetic & some jr-high algebra, and stores photos, should cost the same as Office
- and you get to pay that again & again, ON AN ANNUAL BASIS !

HUMM...
50,000 residential appraisers, say 30,000 of them use single copy of software; balance work for someone.
30,000 software copies x $600 (minimum annual) = $18 million in ONGOING annual income.
Not too shabby, even when split (unevenly) between 3-4-5(?) competing suppliers.
.

 

[EddieB]

There are multiple ways to get rich in the appraisal business. Unfortunately, being an appraiser is the toughest

 

[Flakey]

Sadly, Apex has gone the subscription route as well. I waiting for one of these software providers to go to a per use charge for each report like the portals. I'm willing to bet it will be Alamode when they get their cloud based service well established. Hell, they do it now with Mercury. Why should they wait to get paid once a month?

 

[Randall Garrett]

Hi Fritz,

Apex is still available in the traditional manner - i.e. outright purchase, for lack of a better term. There is an annual subscription option, but many people still prefer the traditional model. Historically, we have provided free updates to Apex for an average of approximately four years at no charge.


Respectfully,

-Randall Garrett-
+Apex Software+

 

[ucbruin]

Hi Fritz,

Apex is still available in the traditional manner - i.e. outright purchase, for lack of a better term. There is an annual subscription option, but many people still prefer the traditional model. Historically, we have provided free updates to Apex for an average of approximately four years at no charge.


Respectfully,

-Randall Garrett-
+Apex Software+

Good afternoon Randall,

Quick question...

I purchased my Apex software from ACI.

Are Apex updates part of ACI updates?
And if not, how would I find and download Apex updates?

Thanks

 

[Flakey]

Hi Fritz,

Apex is still available in the traditional manner - i.e. outright purchase, for lack of a better term. There is an annual subscription option, but many people still prefer the traditional model. Historically, we have provided free updates to Apex for an average of approximately four years at no charge.


Respectfully,

-Randall Garrett-
+Apex Software+

Thanks. I appreciate that you still have that option

 

[Randall Garrett]

Good afternoon Randall,

Quick question...

I purchased my Apex software from ACI.

Are Apex updates part of ACI updates?
And if not, how would I find and download Apex updates?

Thanks

Hi ucbruin,

I know of no reason you could not get updates. What version are you running? Generally, when using most semi-recent versions, folks can check on updates via the Help menu in Apex. ACI generally likes to run updates through a process to make sure everything is working correctly before they approve it, so if you'll let me know your version number (select the "About" item in the Apex Help menu), I'll check on it for you.

Regards,

-Randall Garrett-
+Apex Software+

/end/

 

[JTip]

Customer service on a Wed evening before Thanksgiving. Well done Randall.

You have the work discipline of a true appraiser.