Software and Operating System Support Policy

Last updated: 20 May 2008

Contents

• Contents
• Overview
• Terms Explained
• Description
• Timetables
  • P Squared Product Support
  • Operating System Support
  • Windows Vista Support

Overview

This document provides information and timetables explaining how long we will provide support for each different Version of our main Products and also how long you can expect our products to operate on each of the different Operating Systems (OS's)  - such as Microsoft Windows 9x, Windows XP, Windows Vista etc. It also explains under what circumstances we may not be able to provide support in the case of unsupported Operating Systems.

If after reading this document you have any further inquiries please contact your sales account manager via sales@psquared.net or email support@psquared.net

Terms Explained

For the purposes of this document the following terms are used:

• Product - this means a piece of software or package of software provided by P Squared - e.g. Myriad or Powerlog

• OS or Operating System - this is the computer language that your computer uses to run the Products - for instance Microsoft Windows XP

• Version - this is the major version (and also the first part of the number) for a given product - for instance Myriad Version 2 and Myriad Version 3 are different versions of the same Product.

• Release - each time a Product is updated within the same Version number, this is called a Release. e.g. Myriad v2.6.1 might need a bug fix so the new Release is v2.6.2 - same Version ("2"), but a different Release "x.6.1 and x.6.2" . Most customers are entitled to free updates within the Version number - i.e. If you purchased Myriad v2.x.x you are entitled to any Myriad v2 releases, but upgrades to Myriad v3 would be a cost option.

• Support Contract - This is the period of time that you are entitled to technical support from the P Squared Support Team. Most products ship with 2 years Technical Support from date of purchase, but if you purchase an Upgrade from a previous version, then the period may be different. Once your initial Support period expires, you can choose to either renew the Support Contract for a fixed price for another period of time, or pay a one off charge each time you need to contact Technical Support. More details about our Technical Support Services can be found in the Support and Installation Guidelines

Description

Because we continually develop our Products to include the latest features and 'bug fixes', the design of older OS's start limiting our abilities to push our products further. An example of this is that Windows 95 did not support multiple monitors, so cannot be used to show Myriad on two separate displays attached to a single computer. Eventually limitations like this mean that we can no longer guarantee that the newest versions of our Products will run on every single OS.. When this happens, you may be unable to use newer Versions or Releases of our Products so will have to remain on the last Release that did, meaning you would miss out on new features and 'bug-fixes'.

Coupled with this, whenever we prepare new Versions or Releases of our Products we have to test the Product itself and also the installation program for it on each OS that we support. This can cause significant delays in releasing a Product because each time we test a Release we have to wipe the test systems and begin again from a clean version of the OS to guarantee that the Product is being fully installed, not relying on older copies of files already installed to keep running.

Finally, the P Squared Support Team can typically only provide support for Operating Systems that we use on our own desktop computers (at present this is Windows XP SP2 on most computers) so if you were to experience a problem with one of our Products, or even ask for advice on how best to configure your OS to run our Products then we are not in a position to help because we can't see the same screen in front of us to help talk you through the issue.

Important: Please don't worry though - this doesn't mean that on the day that we stop supporting a given OS that your currently installed Products will suddenly stop working or even that we will stop answering your phone calls or emails.  As long as you have a Support Contract in place we will always try to assist you with any issues about the Product in question. Only if the issue is determined to be with the OS itself or with the Product running on that OS will we be unable to provide support.

Wherever possible we try to provide information when a new Release of a Product will cause it to stop working on a given OS, and usually our Products will actually continue to work on older OS's even after we have ceased support. For instance, even though Windows 2000 is no longer supported, there is currently no reason why Myriad v2 or v3.0 will not run on it. It's just that if you experience problems doing so, then we are usually unable to help you resolve them.

Timetables

To help you decide when to consider upgrading to the latest Version of our Products and when to look at upgrading your computer or OS to retain the ability to keep running the latest versions and releases, we have provided our predictions of when different OS's and versions of Products will be discontinued. The dates are not expected to change, but circumstances beyond our control may require us to limit or extend support on a case by case basis.

Microsoft have published their Life Cycle Policy which gives details of when they will terminate support for their OS. It is available at http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/

Typically we will not start to provide support for our Products on a new OS for at least 6 to 12 months after it's initial release to allow any problems to be resolved by Microsoft before we recommend using it as a platform to run our software on. This also allows us time to upgrade our computer systems and train the Support Engineers to provide the best support.

Where possible, we will continue to support OS's for 6 months after Microsoft cease support. After this we are unable to obtain support from Microsoft and other vendors - for instance hardware drivers etc.  

Note: This does not affect in anyway the terms and conditions, that your software is provided under. You are still entitled to new Releases for free as long as your License is in effect. It is also worth reviewing your Terms as they give details of how long after we make a new release available we cease support for the previous version - e.g. how long we support v3.0.1 of a Product after we have fully released v3.0.2 etc. These can usually be found on the EULA agreement displayed when you install one of our Products.

P Squared Product Support

As long as you have a valid Support Contract, then except where shown the following applies to our Products (note: the items in bold are the latest Version of their respective Product):

Notes:

1. Customers using v2.5 of this product are entitled to upgrade to v2.6 free of charge
2. This includes the support programs such as Myriad Configuration, the log and advert importers and various other utilities.
3. Customers using Scoop Edit v1 are entitled to upgrade to v1.5.7 free of charge.
4. Customer using Scoop Server v1 are entitled to upgrade to v1.2.1 free of charge.
5. Scoop v1 and v2 have been discontinued and replaced with Scoop Edit v3, and Scoop Capture v3. Scoop v1 and v2 users should contact sales@psquared.net regarding upgrade details and pricing information.
6. Although fully supported, this product is not being actively developed any further, and there are no plans for any further updates.
7. Customers using Powerlog v2.x and v3.x are entitled to upgrade to v3.6 free of charge.

Operating System Support

If your Operating System is not shown in the following table (for instance Windows 3.X and Windows 95 A) then we are unable to provide support for our Products running on your computer. This is not an exhaustive list, and we reserve the right to alter this information without prior notice. Further you should check with P Squared Technical Support as this information may have been superseded due to ongoing developments and therefore be out of date.

Our Recommended Operating Systems are highlighted in Green

Notes: 

1. Microsoft terminated support for Windows 98 on June 30, 2003
2. Microsoft terminated support for Windows NT 4 workstation on June 30, 2003
3. Powerlog Server v3.x and Scoop Capture v2.x are only supported when running on Windows 2000 Professional
4. Support is only available for Windows XP Professional running Service Pack 2 and the latest updates from http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
5. Microsoft terminated support for Windows 2000 on June 30, 2005
6. We will normally only support P Squared software physically running on Windows 2003 Server by special arrangement. This does NOT affect the use of Windows 2003 Server as a File Server - this is fully supported.
7. Where Support is agreed, we only support Windows 2003 running Service Pack 1 and the latest updates from http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
8. We will confirm our Support Expiry details after Microsoft publish the Support Lifecycle for Windows Server 2003