The last couple of weeks has seen my workflow for processing photographs grind to a complete stop. This is all my own fault, and quite honestly considering my previous career, I really should have known better when it came to updating my software.

This stupid mistake on my part came about, because I was excited about the new major version of the software that I had purchased several months ago, with a pre-release offer, (that included an attractive price). The update included several new features that would improve my workflow and hopefully speed things up for me on my somewhat dated system, so I was eagerly awaiting the release. When it came I installed it with out any real thoughts other than yes, at last it's here! Since then things haven't been so good.

Sadly the two issues I have are show stoppers, constant unpredictable crashes of the software make reliable editing imposable, and incompatibility with other software I use disrupt my workflow.

The issues with crashes have been addressed by technical support, who have done there best to help, sadly the support website does not have a lot of details of known problems, so it is very hard to get information on issues, other than via direct contact with technical support.
In the last couple of days Version x.0.1 has been release, which I'm led to believe will fix my issues with crashes. Unfortunately with this release came an upgraded operating system requirement, which at this time I am unable to do due to technical and financial reasons.

The compatibility issues could be considered to be my fault for not correctly checking the requirements, for the new version of the software, but unfortunately things change while software is still in development, and this should be highlighted as one of the potential pit falls of the purchase of pre-release software, especially if like me your hardware and software are not the latest and greatest.

So in conclusion, if your considering upgrading anything that is critical to your income, don't make this stupid mistake. Consider all the possibility's, if like me you are not running the most up to date hardware and software (both operating system and products), remember that there maybe compatibility issues and that some of them may not be immediately obvious, and might well have additional cost implications.

Also have a contingency plan, what are you going to do if it all goes horribly wrong? Other than crying in my beer, (which can't be recommended as it waters it down something terrible), I have to find the old version of the software, and reinstall that, until such time as I can upgrade all the components that I need to be able to run the new version. But how do I do that? and where do I get the old version?
All questions that I should have answered up front, and are really really obvious, if only I had stopped to think.