PowerEdge SC600 memory upgrade 1723

i would (as you probably already have) point out to them that already, support for the Trash software is difficult at best, and it's only going to get worse over time because support is only avaiable from a single source, the original programmer.

The only thing that might be done and it depends entirely on how the trash software was written, would be to see if the data could be exported into a CSV or other type file format, then have a programmer or perhaps the company that sells whatever package they would like to move up to write a custom export-import program.

It won't be cheap if it's feasable at all, but in the end it would be well worth the added expense.

whatever package they would like to buy will end up using addition-different fields of data, so at best, they may be able to export-inport as much as they can, then go from there with the new software.

Another approach would be to shoose the new package, get it installed on the server while they are stil running the old package, and simply hire a minimum-wage data-entry tpe of teenager to sit there and manually look at the old data and enter it into the new software. Not very elegant, but often when compared to the cost of a custome written export-import routine, it'll be cheaper, not to mention possibly faster, because it would take a programmer quite awhile to research the exiting data format and code before he can even begin to developt the export-import routine.

then there is the cost issue of what it would take to modify the existing Trash software to be able to use GPS and mapping. expalin that if they stay with the Trash software, it will cost $xx to make it compatible with GPS-Mapping. Take the money that would be spent on the software upgrade and use it to pay that teenager to sit there and re-enter the data in the new package.

In one case they end up with a upgraded version of software that has been outdated for years already, in the other case (for the same cost in the long run) they end up with a modern commercial package with al the bells and whistles, and backed by a big company rather than a single programmer that's gonna die some day.

Its also 'possible' that if the company that makes whatever package they want to move to is big enough or has been around long enough, they may already have some data import tools at thier disposal from previous migration jobs.

yes it's very easy to get in a rut where they're familier with the old software, and changing the entire routine to cope with something new can be scary and intimidating. But I'll bet that after a few months with the new package on the new hardware, they'll never want to go back.

One thing to remember.....

Speed Spoils.

Once they experience the speed of proper software on proper hardware, there's no going back.

As another note, backup options with the new hardware-software are going to be much superior than any backup methods avaiable for their current program-software-hardware platform.

the greater the choices of backup options, the better the odds that they can find a package that's user friendly which in turn results in better odds that they will ACTUALLY USE the backup package.

the more they use it, the safer their data is going to be.