CD or not CD… That is the question

More and more software companies are eliminating CDs and DVDs for product distribution, and turning to an electronic download model.  Just recently, Adobe released plans to eliminate boxed copies of its popular Creative Suite software.

It’s not just due to cost, either.  True, it’s much cheaper for a software company to deliver software this way, but it’s also more convenient for the customer.  Consider the following:

• Most Microsoft Windows operating system updates are already delivered electronically, especially for security fixes.
• Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware software products depend on electronic distribution to quickly update and patch security software.
• Many new laptops, netbooks and tablets don’t even have a CD or DVD drive, which is also decreasing the need for boxed software.
• Software companies (like us) can quickly deliver fixes and enhancements to customer reported issues as soon as they become available.
• New products, add-ons, and utilities can also be provided as they become available.  For example, our last blog post announced availability of our new Win2PDF Desktop product.

We’ve always used an electronic distribution model for these reasons.  Our latest hotfix releases of Win2PDF can be accessed on our Win2PDF Updates support page*.  Our add-on utilities — such as the Win2PDF Mail Helper, Win2PDF Admin Utility, and Win2PDF Desktop — can be found at our Win2PDF Add-On support page.

*  If you purchased Win2PDF before November, 2009, you will need to purchase an upgrade to Win2PDF 7 to get the latest hotfixes.

And, if you still want to make a backup copy of your software, at least with our Win2PDF software, you can easily copy the Win2PDF setup program along with a text file containing your license code to a thumb drive, CD/DVD, or to the cloud (see our round-up of cloud storage services here).

We recommend always getting the latest and greatest versions available, and those can typically be found easily at each vendor’s web site.  If you have any questions about updating or re-installing our Win2PDF software, please contact us at our support page and we’ll be happy to assist you.