Apple updates it's OS every 12-15 months. Microsoft isn't as quick. Quark is in the same camp as Microsoft with upgrades that are not responsive to the user base needs or schedules. Adobe falls somewhere in the middle, give or take.

All this change means there is a large amount of instability and incompatibility internally and externally and how we get our work done. Which version of Quark and InDesign do you use? My last blog pointed out what some believe to be the most stable version Quark but that requires you to ignore Mac OS X altogether.

Taking the leap of faith and upgrading across the board, whether the upgrade is up a version or a whole new application upgrade, has implications upstream and downstream. Somewhere along those lines you will encounter some form of document misbehavior. From a supplier point of view we've always had to have all the software packages and some level of expertise. Some clients upgrade sooner and force the issue while some not until absolutely necessary. I'm not afraid to admit that my shop took as long as it could to upgrade to OS X. The reasons were about pure compatibility and the ability to get the job done right. That means catering to the lowest common denominator and providing the most versatile backward compatibility.

There are certain soft risks inherent in upgrading too. Upgrade too soon and having the "latest and greatest" means sometimes things just don't work. Upgrade too late and you risk the steep learning and training curve while having to ward off falling behind schedule and the competition plucking work away from you.

On the financial side we're not even going to consider the ROI of upgrading. There's no use, it's just got to be done. But where do you stop and commit to a solution? Can you even afford to do that given the amount of change that takes place over the course of a year?