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MYOB sucks the big one. The program usually isn't too horrible, it's set out logically enough, but this time they've gone too far!
M'Mum, being the legal goody-two-shoes with software that she is, bought a new copy of the program she uses when she got a new computer (spiffy laptop with fingerprint recognition thingy that she doesn't use). It's exactly the same as the previous version, except that the new version requires that datafiles be 'activated'. Requires. Unless activated, 90 days after creation files become un-editable.
The new version refuses to open datafiles from the preceding version.
This is where I spent a Sunday afternoon (Fathers' Day, sans Papa) at their house endeavouring to get some help from the MYOB website, and registering the software, because if I can do it and it involves the computers, m'parents will leave it for me to do, with the excuse that it's too hard for them. It's not, they've had enough training that this is well within their capabilities. And they wonder why I make myself too busy to visit them when I'm tired.
Mum prefers ringing up tech support, so that she can get some kind of help then and there. So the next day, being a business day, she does. After being on hold for 20 minutes, she explains her problem to someone, who says "I hear your problem" and, as near as I can tell, basically says there's nothing anyone can do and she'll send us a copy of the preceding software. The Mum rang me up at work to bitch. Fine, whatever, I can type while listening, so it's not a complete waste of half an hour, even if it's a Monday morning and, like Mum, I have a decent sized pile of stuff that needs to be done, and can't get done while the phones are going off, as they tend to do.
Today was my first free Sunday since then, so I went over to help Mum organise her papers again (that's a whole 'nother rant - I'm not the most organised of people, but I can generally lay my hands on the piece of paper I'm looking for. M'Mum has not yet learnt that personal stuff, like newsletters, and magazines, and medical stuff, and patterns, and WOOL, need to be in a separate place to what you're trying to run in a business-like manner. Intellectually, she's grasped the concept, but emotionally it's all too hard and an uphill battle. Thus, I have to sort through Stuff every time I try to help with the data entry for the accounts).
Anyway, having been at an expo in Melbourne this week where works' stand was next to a MYOB stand, I'd enlisted some help from the nice people with regards to Mums' problem. There were a couple of things I could try (they said), mostly based on finding a separate program on the Business Basics disc. Nuh. Wasn't there. Can't use something that isn't on the disc, people! The nice people were useful - they pointed out that you were more likely to get useful help using the website form, because the email respondants don't have to respond without having the time to look something up.
One uninstall new version and reinstall old version later, we can open the datafiles. Great. I'll get back to sorting the business stuff from the dross and entering it next time... In about three weeks
M'Mum, being the legal goody-two-shoes with software that she is, bought a new copy of the program she uses when she got a new computer (spiffy laptop with fingerprint recognition thingy that she doesn't use). It's exactly the same as the previous version, except that the new version requires that datafiles be 'activated'. Requires. Unless activated, 90 days after creation files become un-editable.
The new version refuses to open datafiles from the preceding version.
This is where I spent a Sunday afternoon (Fathers' Day, sans Papa) at their house endeavouring to get some help from the MYOB website, and registering the software, because if I can do it and it involves the computers, m'parents will leave it for me to do, with the excuse that it's too hard for them. It's not, they've had enough training that this is well within their capabilities. And they wonder why I make myself too busy to visit them when I'm tired.
Mum prefers ringing up tech support, so that she can get some kind of help then and there. So the next day, being a business day, she does. After being on hold for 20 minutes, she explains her problem to someone, who says "I hear your problem" and, as near as I can tell, basically says there's nothing anyone can do and she'll send us a copy of the preceding software. The Mum rang me up at work to bitch. Fine, whatever, I can type while listening, so it's not a complete waste of half an hour, even if it's a Monday morning and, like Mum, I have a decent sized pile of stuff that needs to be done, and can't get done while the phones are going off, as they tend to do.
Today was my first free Sunday since then, so I went over to help Mum organise her papers again (that's a whole 'nother rant - I'm not the most organised of people, but I can generally lay my hands on the piece of paper I'm looking for. M'Mum has not yet learnt that personal stuff, like newsletters, and magazines, and medical stuff, and patterns, and WOOL, need to be in a separate place to what you're trying to run in a business-like manner. Intellectually, she's grasped the concept, but emotionally it's all too hard and an uphill battle. Thus, I have to sort through Stuff every time I try to help with the data entry for the accounts).
Anyway, having been at an expo in Melbourne this week where works' stand was next to a MYOB stand, I'd enlisted some help from the nice people with regards to Mums' problem. There were a couple of things I could try (they said), mostly based on finding a separate program on the Business Basics disc. Nuh. Wasn't there. Can't use something that isn't on the disc, people! The nice people were useful - they pointed out that you were more likely to get useful help using the website form, because the email respondants don't have to respond without having the time to look something up.
One uninstall new version and reinstall old version later, we can open the datafiles. Great. I'll get back to sorting the business stuff from the dross and entering it next time... In about three weeks
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