A few consultants have been noticing that  clients on older (and even 4.x)  versions of MAS 90 have odd numbered license counts.
Some users are showing as 2 MAS90 licenses. Some have 6 licenses. After applying an upgrade we’ve heard from a few people that the license count mysteriously drops by one.

This is fine if the client was only using one license – but for clients using two licenses they suddenly are faced with both the expense of an upgrade and a surprise bill to purchase another user license.

Only Sage no longer sells single licenses – so the client’s are urged to buy bundles of licenses at over $2,000 just to get the extra license back.

Sage’s explanation?

It seems to vary depending upon who you talk to though I keep hearing that Sage denies ever selling single licenses — so that any user with 2 or 6 licensed users on the system just has to be a mistake.

Or is it a mistake?

Take a look at this press release which seems to explain at least one scenario where a user could have an extra license on their system. As part of a Year 2000 settlement Sage granted certain qualified users the option of a free additional user license.

I cannot say definitively that if you have an older installation of MAS 90 dating back to 3.x and suddenly notice 1 user subtracted that the following issue will get your single user license back – it’s sure worth a try.

And as noted on the settlement information – the client had to be on maintenance during the proper timeframe in order to qualify for the free user license.

Update: The post was changed slightly to remove quotes from Sage consultants concerned about retaliation from the publisher from providing their experiences.

Kudos to 90Minds member Mark Chinsky for digging through the email archives for the following information.

Y2K LITIGATION: Sage Settles Action Over MAS 90 Software For Up To $8.5M

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sage Inc. has agreed to provide an estimated $ 5.6 million to $ 8.5 million
in product credits to settle a class action over Y2K compliancy of its MAS
90 accounting software (DBN, Inc. t/a Y-PERS v. Sage Software, Inc., et
al., No. 799983, Calif. Super., Orange Co.).(Preliminary Approval Order in Section A. Document # 36-000928-101)

Plaintiff DBN Inc. (t/a "Y-PERS") and Sage have also agreed to a payment to
plaintiffs' counsel of $ 700,000 in fees and costs under a pact
preliminarily approved by Orange County (Calif.) Superior Court Judge
William F. McDonald on Aug. 23.

Pennsylvania-based DBN sued in 1998 on behalf of an estimated 44,000 users
of MAS 90, complaining that the copy it licensed in May 1996 for $ 5,904.20
would not recognize four-digit years. The product was advertised as
software which would take users 'through the 90s and beyond," DBN said.

Judge McDonald overruled Sage's demurrer on Jan. 8, 1999, and on May 27,
1999, certified a nationwide class of users pursuant to the parties'
stipulation.

The notice of proposed settlement attached to the order granting
preliminarily approval notes that Sage contests the allegations and was
prepared to seek summary judgment. Sage maintains that the Year
2000-compliant version contains numerous enhancements and the cost of the
date recognition upgrades was minimal.

                         Settlement Terms

The proposed settlement would give licensees credit toward new or upgraded
services:

Those who licensed MAS 90 after June 1, 1995, purchased upgrades, and are
on a maintenance program would have their choice of a "bank reconciliation"
module, one additional user license, three months of telephone support or a
single user license for Sage's DAC Easy accounting software.* 1995 and
beyond licensees who purchased upgrades and are not on a maintenance
program could opt for one additional user license for MAS 90, a $ 200
coupon toward the purchase of a maintenance program, three months of
telephone support or a single user license for DAC Easy software.* Pre-1995
licensees would be entitled to coupons for MAS 90 software or user licenses
ranging from $ 50 to $ 175, depending on when they acquired the product.

The settlement release will not affect users who ceased using the product
between Oct. 31, 1997, and March 31, 2000. The settlement excludes recovery
for users who received upgrades at no charge.

MAS 90 users have until Nov. 8 to submit a proof of claim. Judge McDonald
scheduled a hearing for that date on final approval.

Co-lead counsel for the settlement class are Jeffrey A. Klafter of
Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann in New York and Harris L. Pogust of
Sherman, Silverstein, Kohl, Rose & Podolsky in Pennsauken, N.J. Plaintiffs'
counsel also includes Jonathan Shub of Sheller, Ludwig & Badey in
Philadelphia, Marc H. Edelson of Hoffman & Edelson in Doylestown, Pa., and
William M. Hensley of the Law Offices of Mark A. Kompa in Newport Beach,
Calif. Sage is represented by Melody Williams Dapp of Pillsbury Madison &
Sutro in Costa Mesa, Calif. (Mealey's Year 2000 Report, September, 2000)

Note: The following report is submitted by one of our 90Minds members. I am reposting this on their behalf.

I am at Microsoft Convergence this week.

It is pretty clear the cloud is coming. We have been working with Server Virtualization lately. The new tools from Microsoft with the virtualization technology is a “game changer” as Sage would put it. Microsoft is investing 70% of $9B R&D in Virtualization in 2010 and 90% over the next couple of years.

Sounds like Iron Mountain may offer Server VHDs with their STAAS offering. If this is the case, we may see Server OS turn to a commodity market like IIS and other Web hosting servers.

GP has been on a back burner for the last year or 2. GP 2010 is being released over the next couple of weeks. Lots of new features, workflow, roles, etc out of the box. Tight integration with Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Exchange 2010, etc…

Unified Communication is embedded in the GP 2010 app. This may have little impact in the next 1-2 years, but we could easily see adoption as the kids enter the workforce. Instant messaging is becoming increasingly important for younger workers and will most likely become more prominent.

Management Report is FRx with a new wrapper.

Was not really impressed from all of the hype.

They made the point FRx was being retired and MR is only being released for Dynamics products several times. Seems like a stupid strategy mainly to punish other publishers to find alternative solutions. May backfire if some find/make innovative solutions.

Definitely feel Microsoft is providing a good vision much like Sage did in the Hannah/Butler days of the past.

They claim 94 million devices pulled updates for Windows 7 workstation during last release. Pretty impressive. Time to saddle up folks. Windows 7 and 64 bit is here to stay. Apps better deal with it or they will quickly be in the ‘ol DOS category. We plan to have strategic sessions with most of our clients for a migration strategy over the next 18 months.

Data Protection Manager is an excellent tool for midsize business data managment with nice tools/solutions for mobile users with infrequent connections to corporate networks.

Word on the street – Microsoft has fixed the Integration adapter between GP and CRM.

Lots of excitement and enthusiasm in the reseller base. This is users and resellers. Microsoft has 8,500 at the conference. It definitely feels like a large crowd. (ie., bathroom lines are long, exit doors are clogged and meals have a wait) There is definitely a buzz at the conference that I have not seen or felt for several years at Sage or Microsoft.

Most notable is a learning center. Microsoft has 100s if not 1,000s of online demos and hands on labs. There has to be at least 1,000 workstations with dual monitors and headsets in a large room. An impressive sight.

First time that I have been in an old Olympic venue. Big place with large conference rooms…. Cool to imagine the history.

Here is a sneak peek overview of Purchase Agent by JobOps which has just been released as a standalone component of the popular Job Ops manufacturing suite for MAS 90 and MAS 200:

Purchase Agent automates the purchasing process by analyzing your supply and demand for inventory. Based on this information it creates a filterable grid to allow the purchase agent order review the demand, modify the information and automatically create purchase orders from it.

In the past, this program was called “Component Exception Manager” and was a major part of the ordering process for Job Ops program.

But now Job Ops has pulled  this functionality out of JobOps and reengineered it to work without JobOps in base MAS90.

Here are some screen shots.

Main Purchase Agent Generation Screen.

With this information it creates a work file of on all the inventory demand based on Sales Order and MRP forecasts, EOQ or by max stock.

And allow you to filter by any of the following items

This is by Vendor

It also will allow you to scroll to additional info

It also allow you to drill down on the item inquiry screen or see the demand generated for the item.

It will also allow you to review purchase history by item

Once you decide you can actually change the Vendor, price or quantity right on the screen

Once you decide to order it will create the Purchase orders

You can either a New PO, add to a PO that has not been printed or create an on hold PO

Once the PO is generated the demand is removed from the grid.

Normally the Job Ops Program costs between 5K to 20K based on modules and users.

This Program is available standalone without JobOps and retails for about $1500. The demo does a pretty good job of reviewing the product. Let me know if you are interested in seeing it.

Sage Earnings Meet Expectations

According to the company press release:

Results for the nine months to 30 June 2009 were consistent with management expectations. Market conditions in the quarter ended 30 June 2009 have remained challenging but largely unchanged. Subscription revenues continue to show solid growth and the cost base has been successfully reduced to address the slowdown in the market for software and software-related services.

Contrast To Microsoft 29% Earnings Decline

On July 23 Microsoft reported profits had declined 29% and revenues declined 17% (the first earnings miss since the company went public in 1980).

Link: Redmond Faces The Future After Its Lousiest Year Ever

According to press reports (Bloomberg) on the Microsoft earnings:

Sales declined in all of Microsoft’s main business units. Windows software revenue dropped 29 percent after the PC market contracted for three straight quarters. Some customers are holding off purchases until a new version of Windows comes out in October. Demand for Office software and advertising on Microsoft’s Web sites also waned.

“It’s a real disappointment,” said Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon. He has an “outperform” rating on the shares. “It’s a significant miss” in revenue.

Continuing Market Outlook

The continuing market outlook for Sage was stated by Sage UK Chairman Paul Walker as:

There has been no significant change in market conditions during the quarter ended 30 June 2009 and we are planning for markets to remain testing. However, our proven business model and large, geographically diverse, customer base give us confidence that we are well positioned for these conditions and the eventual market recovery. We expect to report results for the year ended 30 September 2009 in-line with market expectations.

The Sage Group plc is a leading global supplier of business management software and services to 5.8 million small and medium-sized enterprises in over 30 countries. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and now employs over 14,500 people worldwide.

Market consensus of the 24 analyst research notes published after 6 May 2009 for the year to 30 September 2009 is as follows: Revenues £1,452m, EBITA £328m and PBT (pre-amortisation) £306m.

via: Schulz Consulting Sage MAS 90 Consulting

Software as s service vendor Netsuite has rolled out a program termed RenewForce that promises 50% off the cost of any Salesforce users existing contracts.

Their offer is valid through December 31, 2008 and Netsuite claims to offer more features for less with their NetSuite CRM that includes creating estimates and quotes, sales-order generation, management of multiple quotas and forecasts, support for cross-selling and up-selling, commission management, integrated e-mail marketing and pre-configured sales dashboards.

NETSUITE RENEWFORCE PROGRAM SAVES CUSTOMERS 50% ON THEIR SALESFORCE.COM INVOICE

With RenewForce, Salesforce.com Customers Move From Standalone SFA to Feature-Rich CRM and Leading SaaS Suite for ERP, CRM and Ecommerce

SAN MATEO, Calif. — October 22, 2008 — NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), a leading vendor of on-demand, integrated business management software suites for mid-market enterprises and divisions of large companies, today announced a new program aimed at salesforce.com customers who are eager to realize greater value from their customer relationship management (CRM) investment, as well as relief from some of the industry’s highest on-demand subscription fees. The NetSuite RenewForce Program offers all salesforce.com customers the opportunity to drop their standalone sales force automation (SFA) offering from salesforce.com in exchange for NetSuite CRM+ at a cost NetSuite guarantees will be 50% off the value of their current salesforce.com implementation.

NetSuite anticipates that salesforce.com customers will find a lot to like about the NetSuite RenewForce offer as they seek opportunities in this economic downturn to realize greater value across their operations. As an on-demand suite with built-in integration and business analytics, NetSuite offers substantially more value than the standalone salesforce.com SFA application and at substantially less cost. For more information about the NetSuite RenewForce program, please visit www.netsuite.com/renewforce.

The NetSuite RenewForce program is available now for a limited time only to all current salesforce.com customers in good standing. The 50% discount will apply to a comparable license for NetSuite CRM+, including customer support and implementation services.

“RenewForce ends the age of being forced to pay $125 per-user-per-month for basic contact management and SFA,” said Zach Nelson, NetSuite CEO. “In this environment, reducing costs and increasing productivity are key, and applications like NetSuite CRM+ that include—but go well beyond—basic SFA functionally enable companies to do a lot more with a lot less.”

Salesforce.com customers who take the NetSuite offer receive much more than just a 50% discount and a great product. They also receive important customer relationship management functionality not found in salesforce.com, including the ability to:

* Create estimates or quotes
* Generate sales orders
* Manage multiple quotas and forecasts
* Automate support for cross-selling and up-selling
* Manage incentive management (commissions) within the system without using a third product
* Conduct integrated email marketing
* Pre-configure dashboards for business intelligence, and more

For more information about NetSuite Inc., please visit www.netsuite.com.

NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are registered service-marks of NetSuite Inc.
For more information on the offer visit RenewForce.

via: Informationweek

Adonix was acquired by Sage Group in 2005. Until today, the North American operations were managed as part of Sage Europe, because the original Adonix was headquartered in France. The North American management team is based in Pittsburgh, PA.

Moving forward, this team will become part of the overall BMD portfolio. Sales and marketing will be integrated with existing teams. Other employees will continue to report into Alex Attal, the North American leader for Sage ERP X3.

Sage ERP X3 ideally complements the existing Sage ERP portfolio in North America. Scaling up to more than 1,000 concurrent users, it provides mid-market up to large enterprise manufacturers and distributors with mid- to high-end ERP software aimed at meeting the most elaborate business processes. It will allow Sage to address many customers whose needs can not currently be met by Sage MAS 500 or Sage Accpac ERP, as well as those upper-end customers requiring multinational support.

For more details on Sage ERP X3 – visit Sage ERP X3 or review the list of Frequently Asked Questions – Sage ERP X3 FAQ (pdf)

Thanks to Wayne Shulz for this posting

Scott today filed this report to 90 Mind group members and I’ve asked Scott if I can reprint it verbatim to give readers an attendee’s point of view about the conference happenings.

Keep in mind that these comments are based on the first day of Convergence. There may be other announcements later in the conference and we’ll take care to update the story as additional information is released.

Microsoft Convergenge 2009 Day 1 Field Report

From: Scott Hickman
Date: Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 8:37 AM
Subject: [sageresellers] Second Day in New Orleans with Microsoft
To: sageresellers

I am in New Orleans at the Microsoft convention. There has not been anything earth shattering. The Keynote indicated that we will be “blown away” on Thursday. We shall see.

Notable items

Over 4,000 partners attending (pretty strong for Dynamics)

Beginning to develop business applications around their “surface” hardware. (ie., touchscreen Kiosk in warehouse)

50 tips on Dynamics GP in 50 minutes – great session – great idea

They are pushing green green green. No bottled watered – they gave us a refillable water bottle. Plastic cups are made of corn. Ink pens are called Vegetals. I still have not seen paperless out of the box with GP though. They want us to give our water bottles to NOLA schools. Recycle our name badges which are made from recycled material and corn.

No nightly entertainment. Sessions go until 6:00. There are a few left over snacks on the table and then you need to leave. Kind of like the last day on a cruise ship. Free beer and alchohol is also past bye-gones .

Heavily pushing CRM. CRM resellers are optimistic about their practices. Say they are recession proof. Engagements are t y pically $50K implementation, $25K software and 20 users.

CRM integration with Dynamics – GP is comparable to Sage’s solution. Just a bunch of synchronization. They are coming out with a new integration this year.

Dynamics RMS is mysterically missing.

Good NOLA band openend up before keynote. Much better than the broom stunt.

I will post the “blown away” news tomorrow if I think the group’s heart and health can take the shock.

Scott

via: Scott Hickman – ServiceWorld Computer Center – Missouri

Update - I also spotted this Microsoft Convergence update from ZDNET which mirrors all of Scott’s observations.

Effective on March 31, 2009 all messages in Sagetalk will be set to read only status. No new postings will be accepted and new user registration will likely stop.

Sagetalk has been replaced by the new Sage MAS90 Community Forums which are much easier to navigate and allow for reading of new messages without any login.

One of the easiest ways to read new messages in the Sage Community is via the use of RSS feeds which are small one or two line summaries of the messages posted to the forum.

An explanation of RSS feeds and how to setup a feed so that you can read the new Sage Community support forums via RSS is available here.

It’s important to note that Sage intends to keep the prior Sagetalk messages around for the immediate future so they can be used as reference for older technical topics.

The IRS will be releasing a Publication 15-T which includes the final tables. Realizing that many companies want to implement these rates right away, the government has made preliminary tables available.

Please check the IRS site for the final tables (www.irs.gov) and always verify the accuracy of any changes you make to your payroll tax tables.

New IRS Withholding Tables

New IRS Tax Tables February 2009