In the previous post, we considered availability and access of the web 2.0 workgroup productivity application. Today we'll look at software upgrades.
Like all software, Web 2.0 applications designed to support workgroup productivity will usually be regularly upgraded by the software vendor. How those upgrades affect you will likely be quite different depending on whether you are self-hosted or vendor-hosted.
In a self-hosted environment, you will be responsible for keeping track of software updates from the vendor, deciding when to upgrade the system, installing the upgrade, and so on. Is this a difficult process? As we saw with the installation, upgrades can vary greatly between applications, with some involving just the push of a button, and others a potentially complex and arcane process. Make sure you know which you're dealing with.
In a vendor-hosted environment on the other hand, it's almost universally the case that upgrades are automatically take care of, without any intervention on your part. Bugs will be fixed, features will be added, and the software will be improved, sometimes without you noticing. That the vendor manages this process is a big advantage of vendor-hosted applications.
But is there a downside to these automatic updates? Again, it depends on your usage of the system and how critical it can be. The last thing you need before a big customer demo is to find out the application has jumped to version 2.0 (codename "Lemon Penguin") with the entirely "new and improved" interface, rendering your carefully planned demo script worthless. If not having control of the timing of updates is a serious concern, you'll have to be careful with vendor-hosted applications. On the plus side, though vendor-hosted applications tend to have more updates, they tend to be much more incremental. Still, you may want to find out if the vendor's practice is to give advanced notice of any significant upgrades and when they will occur.
Next time: Disruption of Vendor's Business
Comments