Not everybody is cursing the millennium bug.
For Focus Software, the threat of 2000 has breathed new life into its flagging CBA accounting package. In October last year, the company released CBA 2000, an upgraded version of its DOS-based product that meets 2000-compliance needs.
Focus has already migrated 500 of its 6000 customers to CBA 2000 and according to company officials, is "taking a further 10 orders for the product a day". While the need to achieve compliance has given a temporary reprieve to a product which company officials themselves admit was in decline, Focus is finding it hard to convince most of its installed base of the need to upgrade to CBA 2000.
"We are concerned at the number of our customers we still have to get through," Richard Jones, Focus' general manager for Australia said yesterday. "There seems to be a real apathy among users about the problem. As far as they're concerned the product works, so they don't see any need to upgrade."
Jones said Focus is launching an awareness campaign via its reseller network to try to combat the problem.
Meanwhile, Focus is also working on a new Windows-based product in partnership with New Zealand software company, The Cardinal Group. Focus will use The Cardinal Group's JADE architecture in its new financial product, code-named Greentree, which is scheduled for release by the end of this year.