As most customers have heard by now, when Sage releases the next version of Peachtree in May, the product will be officially re-branded, from “Peachtree” to “Sage 50 – U.S. Edition”.

What has not yet been widely publicized, however, is another much more significant change to the “product formerly known as Peachtree”. Effective with the 2013 edition, the “Product” will only be sold via subscription. Customers either purchasing a new Peachtree –oops, Sage 50 – license, or upgrading their current product license, will be required to purchase a Sage BusinessCare subscription as a condition of licensing that new version.

The Peachtree consultant community has been told very little about this important transition so far, and we have no reliable information on future subscription pricing at this time. Sage has scheduled a special Peachtree reseller webinar for Monday, March 19, 2012 to provide details on this new direction for their popular accounting product, which many consider to be the “flagship” of the Sage accounting product line.

The Quantum version of the Peachtree product has been sold via a “subscription-only” model for the past few years now, and most of our clients have been satisfied with this approach. Quantum customers receive unlimited telephone support from Sage for technical issues, including remote access support when indicated, and automatically receive download notifications any time either a product update or a new product version becomes available. For these services Quantum customers pay a single “bundled” annual subscription fee, based on their Quantum license count.

For smaller businesses, this move to a subscription sales model could be perceived as a costly and unnecessary change to product licensing practices which have been in place for years. Part of Peachtree’s appeal to startups and small entrepreneurs over the many years of its existence has been its relatively low “cost of entrance” in comparison to the features set offered. This is about to change radically.

This change is not occurring in a vacuum, however. As technology moves ever more rapidly forward and broadband Internet access becomes ubiquitous in virtually all businesses, many software vendors – in addition to Sage – are transitioning to a subscription sales model from the more familiar licensing sales model. At this point many software companies are eliminating software license distribution entirely, and embracing a “cloud-based” approach to software delivery, via on-line subscription services with a monthly or annual fee for access. We suspect that Sage will be moving in this direction, as well, in the not-too-distant future.

We understand that Peachtree 2012 upgrade licenses will remain available for purchase by existing Peachtree customers at least until the release of Sage 50 – U.S. Edition 2013 in May. Presumably new users will also be able to purchase 2012 licenses, without a subscription obligation, until that time as well.

If you are not interested in transitioning to the new Sage subscription model for upgrading your accounting software when 2013 version ships, you still  have the option to purchase what is now the “current” edition of Peachtree (2012) without having to purchase a subscription, for a limited time. The “window” for non-subscription upgrade licenses, however, will likely close in the next 60 to 90 days.

As with all things Peachtree, please don’t hesitate to call TriStar at 610-941-2116 for advice on your Peachtree or other accounting software-related questions.