Summary: The top
questions and answers about running Clients & Profits on Mac
OS X, Apple's new operating system Updated
3/10/04
Order
C&P for Mac OS X now!
Q.
Can
we use Clients & Profits with Mac OS X?
Yes, but you'll need the Clients & Profits
for Mac OS X update or any version
of Clients & Profits 5.0 of later.
Q. What do we have to
do to make Clients & Profits run on Mac OS X?
Everyone who uses Clients & Profits and
Mac OS X needs to have the v10.2 upgrade (which can be purchased from
the Apple Store or at any Apple reseller), which is the first version
that correctly handles multi-user databases You also need the Clients
& Profits for Mac OS X update from us..
Q. What’s included
in the Clients & Profits for Mac OS X update?
The Clients & Profits for Mac OS X update
CD includes a new OS X-compatible version of the Clients & Profits
Player, the Clients & Profits application, and an update guide.
Q.
Is there a charge for the Mac OS X compatible version?
No. The update
is offered free upon request for users
with current support subscriptions.
Q. Should we upgrade all of our Mac users that
use Clients & Profits to OS X?
Only if they want to use Mac OS X. If so,
then every OS X user needs to have the v10.2 upgrade. Earlier versions
of Mac OS X will damage your Clients & Profits database.
Q. Can we still use Clients & Profits if some of
our Macs run OS X and some run OS 9?
Yes,
the Clients & Profits for Mac OS X update will run on both Mac OS
9.x and Mac OS X. There is no problem with mixing OS 9.x and OS X users
on the same network accessing a Clients & Profits database.
Q. Do we have to upgrade every Mac OS X user that
has Clients & Profits to Mac OS X v10.2?
Yes -- this is absolutely required. Pre-10.2
versions did not support "byte-range locking" and damage Clients
& Profits databases.
Q. Is there anything a Mac OS X user has to do
different to run Clients & Profits?
No. Clients & Profits starts up just
like always and operates identically to previous versions.
Q. Do we have to have Mac OS X to run any new version
of Clients & Profits?
No. All versions of Clients & Profits
will run on Mac OS X as well as all earlier versions of the Mac OS,
including OS 9.x and 8.x.
Q. Are there any
new features in the Clients & Profits for Mac OS X update?
No. This update
only provides compatibility with Mac OS X v10.2. There are no new
features, enhancements, or bug fixes.
Q.
What’s so important about Mac OS X?
Mac OS X is
Apple's next-generation operating system for the Macintosh. It claims
to be more powerful, more stable, and more secure than Mac OS 9. Whether
it's useful enough to justify the cost of upgrading is a matter of
opinion. Performance-wise, it is no better at running Clients &
Profits than Mac OS 9.x.
Q. What will happen if we stick
with Mac OS 9? Is it really going to disappear soon?
Mac OS 9 will still be included
with selected new Macs for the foreseeable future for compatibility with
applications like Clients & Profits. Since Mac OS 9 and Mac OS
X can coexist well together on the same network, there's no reason
to upgrade your existing Macs to OS X unless there's a personal preference.
As these Macs are replaced, your users will all eventually migrate
to OS X.
Q. Can our Windows users
still share the C&P database if other users are running Mac OS
X?
Yes -- but only if you're using an AppleShare
IP, Windows Server 2003, or Windows 2000 file server for the Clients
& Profits database. At this time, the Mac OS X Server will not
share a multi-user database between Macs and PCs.
Q. Can our Mac OS X users
still access the database from a Windows 2000/2003 server?
Yes. Mac OS X doesn't access a Windows
server any differently than Mac OS 9. However, Mac OS X must use AFP
to connect to the server (as of 10.2.4). More information on this
topic can be found on the System
Manager News page.
Q. Will we need to update
our PCs if we update to Clients & Profits for Mac OS X?
No. Your Windows users are unaffected by
your Mac users who run Mac OS X.
Q. Does Clients & Profits
work with the Mac OS X server?
Yes, but only if you don't have Clients &
Profits users running Windows. The current Mac OS X Server does not
support cross-platform multi-user databases and will corrupt your
data.
Q. What is the difference
between Mac OS X and the Mac OS X Server?
The server version of Mac OS X has more networking,
file sharing, web/mail server, and server capabilities that the standard
(i.e., workstation version) or Mac OS X. Otherwise, they are virtually
identical operating systems.
Q. If we want to use Mac
OS X, do we also have to use Mac OS X Server?
No.
Your Mac OS X workstations can access a Clients & Profits database
on any AppleShare or Windows file server.
Q. Will the My Clients &
Profits! web server work on Mac OS X?
Yes, but you'll need to install the Mac OS
X-compatible version first by calling the Clients & Profits Helpdesk
at (800) 521-2166.
Q. Will all of my custom
reports work on Mac OS X?
Yes, but they may need to be converted using
the ConvertReports plug-in application.
Q. Will the C&P
Media Link work on OS X?
Yes, but you'll need to use the Mac OS X-compatible
version that's included on the Clients & Profits for Mac OS X
CD (look inside the Extras folder).
Q. What are the system
requirement for running Clients & Profits on OS X?
The
hardware requirements are identical to previous versions of Clients
& Profits. The system
recommendations page has the latest hardware and softwar requirements
for all versions of Clients & Profits.
Q. Is Clients & Profits
a native OS X application?
No, it runs in the "classic"
mode (i.e., OS 9) under Mac OS X.
Q. How much RAM does my Mac
need to Mac OS X and Clients & Profits?
The new Clients & Profits Player needs
the same amount of RAM -- 8-12mb -- as before.
Q. Is Clients &
Profits SQL compatible with Mac OS X?
Yes, but you'll need the OS X-compatible version
which is available at sql@clientsandprofits.com.
Q. Why did it take so
long to make Clients & Profits compatible with OS X?
We
were dependent upon Apple restoring "byte-range locking"
to Mac OS X, which was not included in the initial releases and updates
to the operating system. Byte-range locking is the mechanism that
allows many users to access the same file concurrently. Without it,
the Clients & Profits database would become damaged as subsequent
users opened it from their workstations. Mac OS X v10.2, which was
released August 30 2002, was the first version to support multi-user
databases.
The Mac OS X tech note
has more detailed technical information about the issues involved.
Q.
Why do we have to spend the money to upgrade to Mac OS 10.2? Why can’t
you make C&P compatible with earlier versions?
Like
other relational databases, Clients & Profits relies on the computer's
operating system for file-level functions like networking, printing,
and storing data on the file server. The ability to share a database
among multiple users wasn't included in the first releases of Mac
OS X, which is why Clients & Profits couldn't be used on them.
Technically, it wasn't possible for Clients & Profits to recreate
the missing multi-user functionality. So we were forced to wait (and
hope) for Apple to restore byte-range locking.
Apple added hundreds of bug fixes and enhancements -- including byte-range
locking -- to
Mac OS v 10.2, making it
more than just a fix (unlike Mac OS X v10.1, for example). For this
reason they decided to market Mac OS X 10.2 as a paid upgrade at $129
per user. While it may seem high, Mac OS X v10.2 includes many significant
new features (including iChat and iCal) in addition to compatibility
with Clients & Profits. The bottom line is that if running Mac
OS X is as important to you as Clients & Profits, then you'll
need to upgrade your OS X users to v10.2.
Q.
Will
there ever be a native version of Clients & Profits?
It's
a possibility, but not soon. When we evaluated Mac OS X two years
ago year we determined that to provide a native application we'd have
to rewrite the entire system from scratch -- a tremendous amount of
work. After extensive testing since then, we decided that the program's
performance and compatibility in the "classic" mode was
good enough that full rewrite wasn't justified. Instead, we spent
all of 2001 developing Clients & Profits 5.0, a major redesign
of the software. We couldn't have produced Clients & Profits 5.0
if we'd rewritten the application just for OS X compatibility. (This
would have put us at a competitive disadvantage for our Windows sales,
since almost all of our competition is Windows-only. As a cross-platform
system, we are obligated to balance the needs or both Mac and Windows
users.) Our subsequent testing found very little disadvantage to running
Clients & Profits as a "classic" application. It has
proven to suit the needs of most users, which is always our goal.
Now that the Clients & Profits 5.0 upgrade has been released,
we've started work on the R&D for the next generation of Clients
& Profits. Offering a native version for Mac OS X will be a high
priority, and we're excited about the project. It's too early to discuss
release dates, of course, but we'll post news on our web site when
we have something to announce.
Q.
Some
fonts are being replaced when I print documents. Why isn't my computer
using them?
Make
sure that the fonts are correctly installed. They need to be in both
the LIbrary folder in the System folder for access by OS X, as well
as in a Fonts folder in the System Folder folder for access by the
"classic" mode. If the fonts are still being replaced when
printing, install the Mac OS X 10.2.5 update, which was released on
April 10. You can download the update from Apple's web site at
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120210.
Q.
When installing the
Mac OS X-compatible update of Clients & Profits on a
PC I got this error message: "Serial number has been tampered
with." Why?
You
are trying to serialize the new C&P Player with the old serial
number. The new serial number, which is printed on your upgrade invoice,
begins with "C8RS". The old player used a serial number
that began with "C7RS". Also, the Mac OS X-compatible update
does not need to be installed on your Windows computers. This update
only affected Mac users who wanted to run Clients & Profits on
Mac OS X. So unless you're using Mac OS X, you don't need to install
this update at all. There are no new features, enhancements, or bug
fixes in it.
