Windows XP End of Life Announced
As many of you may have read in our last newsletter, Microsoft has announced that Windows XP has reached end of life and the extended support period ended on April 8, 2014. Thereafter, no security updates will be provided. This means your PC will be at risk of obtaining viruses, spyware, or malicious software that could result in the exposure of your data. Many technology companies, including Jayhawk Software, recommend that you do not operate Windows XP after April 8, 2014.
With this announcement, we realize that many of our customers will be upgrading their computers to a Windows 7 or 8 operating system over the coming months. There are many of our customers who have not kept their JUBS or Cougar Accounting program up-to-date over the years, and may be running old versions on an old PC that will not be compatible with Windows 7 or Windows 8.
Jayhawk Software has two upgrade options for utility billing software. The first option is to upgrade to our newest version of JUBS Series 4, Release 3. The advantages to upgrading to this version is that is has a similar look and feel to your current version, but with a few added features. It will not be difficult to learn the differences, and the training time required is minimal. The downside to choosing this version, is that while it is currently Windows 7 compatible, , it is the last version of JUBS and its life expectancy is unknown at this time. We will not be making any further updates to this version. We know for certain that it will not run on Windows 9, and due to unknown changes in Windows technology it may reach end of life prior to that. When it reaches end of life, JUBS will no longer be supported, and you would then need to upgrade to Jayhawk Utility Suite (JUS).
The second option is to consider is upgrading to Jayhawk Utility Suite (JUS), which is our support product moving forward into the future. JUS has many additional features and modules available, such as historical reporting, service orders, more reports, email billing, consolidated billing statements, online bill pay and more.
Jayhawk’s integrated accounting solution, Cougar Mountain Pro, will NOT run on the new generation processors nor on 64-bit Windows 7 or Windows 8 computers. The only way it “may” work is to install in a “virtual” mode and there are concerns with running the older version in a “virtual” mode because the XP vulnerability still exists in a “virtual” PC. This is an important security concern in addition to other typical complications that “virtual” scenarios can cause (printer setup, file sharing, etc.). In addition, Cougar Mountain has indicated that they plan to cease the support/updates to their older version within the next year or two and also will not refund “un-used” annual software assurance monies.
Jayhawk has an accounting upgrade option as well to Cougar Mountain Denali software, which includes better reports, new graphical dashboard with navigation and workflows, improved password requirements and no encryption keys, improved payroll module, and much, much more.
Please keep in mind that since your current version may not run on Windows 7 or Windows 8, you will want to be pro-active in checking your current version and obtaining a quote for the upgrade well in advance of your purchase of a new PC. Typically, we are able to schedule your install of a new version 4-8 weeks from receipt of signed quote and payment from you.
And for those of you who are not aware, we also sell new PCs. If you need a quote for a new PC with Windows 7 or Windows 8, please let us know. We can ship the PC to you with the new version of JUBS or JUS already installed.
If you have any questions about whether your version of JUBS is compatible with newer versions of Windows, or about pricing on an upgrade, please contact our sales division at 620-365-8065, or email sales@jayhawksoftware.com for more information.