Does it make more sense to upgrade to Delphi 2009/2010 or to buy Software Assurance?

Question

If you've purchased the Software Assurance, can you please share your experience? Was it worthwhile?

I vaguely remember reading some negative comments about SA maybe 1 or 2 years ago.

Answer 1

I bought SA for D2007, renewed twice, and have had D2009 and D2010 for my troubles.

I think it makes it worth it for me, as I have less to think about and get the software when it comes out.

Answer 2

If you normally upgrade each time a new version of Delphi is released, SA is great. It's slightly cheaper than the upgrade pricing, you get the new software right away (no wait for purchasing/ordering), and you get a couple of support incidents thrown in. It also makes it much easier for those of us who have to go through an annual budget battle; you know ahead of time what you'll need to budget per developer for the next year for Delphi updates, instead of having to wait until the version is actually released and then fight for the money.

We've had about the same track record as mj2008, starting with D2007. We bought SA for RAD Studio and not just Delphi, so we also got Prism when it was introduced into RAD Studion 2009 and updated with RAD Studio 2010. (And of course, C++ Builder is thrown in as well.)

Answer 3

I agree with Ken. If you intend to upgrade to each new version, SA costs less than upgrading. More so for Enterprise and Architect SKUs than Professional.

SA makes the most sense in the long run. If the goal is to simply get the next release "free", then SA is going to be a gamble.

You can look at Delphi's release history to make an educated guess about future releases and do the math for yourself.

I've used SA in one form or another since Delphi 7, and my experience has been mixed. The worst single screw-up was the release that happened while the development teams were transitioning to CodeGear. In their defense, a lot of people worked hard to sort everything out, but it really was a mess. Since then, it's gotten much better. For the last two releases, I received my SA notice with download instructions within about a day of the RTM announcement. Much better turn around time than the Windows 7 release with my MSDN subscription.