MADISON, MO -- The purpose of this news release is to clarify
current plans for updating Flagship Technologies' leading software
product, ManagePLUS™ for
QuickBooks, a farm accounting add-on for Intuit's
QuickBooks accounting software. Information in this release
supplements and supercedes information provided in another
release earlier this year.
According to company president Mark Wilsdorf, planned updates in
the ManagePLUS for QuickBooks™ program are "on hold" due
to unique circumstances in the QuickBooks-related software
development landscape.
"We wanted to release a major ManagePLUS update before the
end of 2002." said Wilsdorf. "However, the first release
of Intuit's Software Development Kit (SDK) for QuickBooks, in the
fall of 2001, proved insufficient for the job. It did not provide
the access to QuickBooks data which ManagePLUS requires. Features
announced for the next release of the SDK suggest that it will
support the kinds of QuickBooks access we need for rewriting
ManagePLUS, but it won't be available until very late in 2002. This
means we cannot begin work on upgrading ManagePLUS until early 2003,
at the earliest, and that a new version of ManagePLUS won't be
available before fall of 2003, possibly even later."
Wilsdorf continued, "All we can do at this point is
apologize to ManagePLUS customers who are upgrading to new versions
of QuickBooks or of Microsoft Windows, such as Windows 2000 and
Windows XP--neither of which is compatible with the current version
of ManagePLUS. Some customers will ask why we don't go ahead with
upgrading ManagePLUS right now, but it simply would not be
economically feasible. Any update written today would have to be
scrapped within a year--a wasted investment. No, the 'new' way to
connect with QuickBooks data now and in the future will be to use
the SDK. We're simply waiting for an SDK release that is robust
enough to support the data access requirements of ManagePLUS. And
we're not alone in this, by any means. Many other QuickBooks
developers have also had to put their plans on hold, waiting for
features they need to be added to the SDK."
Finally, Wilsdorf added, "Our customers may wonder what else
we've been working on, since we've not devoted much development
staff time to ManagePLUS. I cannot provide any details right now,
other than to say we're working on another QuickBooks add-on and
that it will be of use to both agricultural QuickBooks users and to
non-ag small business."
ManagePLUS for QuickBooks™
will continue to be available for QuickBooks and QuickBooks Pro
versions 5, 6, 99, 2000, and 2001, until it is updated or rewritten
to accommodate the newest QuickBooks releases.
About Flagship Technologies
Flagship Technologies, Inc., is located at Madison, Missouri. The
company's primary focus is on developing and marketing agricultural
software products, including ManagePLUS
for QuickBooks™ and ManagePLUS
for Quicken™, farm accounting add-ons for QuickBooks and
Quicken, as well as other software products and training materials.
The company can be contacted by these means:
ManagePLUS is a trademark of Flagship
Technologies, Inc. QuickBooks and Quicken are registered trademarks
of Intuit.
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