The January 2001 disk update will be processed Thursday, December 28th. Disks will be shipped Friday, December 29th. You should have the December Update in your office Tuesday, January 2nd. The Internet monthly update will be posted some time on December 26th to our three monthly update websites.
Unless you have made arrangements to purchase your diskettes, please return your "November disks" ONLY AFTER you have successfully installed this December 2000 Update. November disks are your backup in case you should have problems installing the December edition.
For those who hate returning disks there are two alternatives to eliminate the problem. One alternative is to switch over to obtaining monthly updates by Internet. Not only will you eliminate the expense and hassle of returning disks, you will save $50 per year in subscription fees.
Before switching to updates by Internet we require that you complete a special addendum to the license agreement called the "Internet Update Endorsement". Once you return that to us we will send you the "Internet Master Disk" which you will need to be able to process the "MONTHLY.CMP" file that you will then be downloading each month.
If you want to switch over to Internet monthly updates, please call our office at (800) 567-8376. Our staff will send you the Internet Update Endorsement.
The other way to avoid returning the disks and disk box each month is to pre-purchase them for $21 per year ($1.75 per month). If you do so you can keep them for future reference, throw them away or return them for a credit (once each year) when you are invoiced for the next twelve boxes. The $21 will cost you less than mailing back disks each month.
I can't believe that we are coming to the end of another year. And this was a big year, the last year of the 20th century and the last year of the old millennium. Yes, unlike the media, which bases its judgement on feelings and not fact, the 20th century ends with the year 2000. The 21st century begins with January 1, 2001. Let me be the first to wish you a Happy 21st century.
This year also ends an 18 year tradition for Compulife. In 1982, when we first began shipping software, we included a bulletin to explain changes being made to our software. It wasn't our intent for the bulletin to become a tradition because we were focused on the software. However, in one of those first shipments there didn't seem to be a need to include a bulletin and so we didn't. We then got soundly criticized for not doing so. That quickly made the bulletin a tradition, a tradition which will abruptly end as this is the final printed edition.
From next month on you can read the bulletin one of two ways. After installing the monthly update you will find a bulletin.txt file in your \COMPLIFE folder. You can read or print that file with Compulife's View/Print File Program. Alternately, you can go to www.compulife.com or www.compulife.cc and view a copy of the bulletin (and past bulletins) at the website.
Finally, not printing and packaging a bulletin each month simplifies cost and production of software. We anticipated that cost saving earlier this year when we passed it along to you by way of lower subscription fees.
This will also be my last Christmas greeting in print. While politically incorrect to wish people Merry Christmas, I continue to do so. I want you to appreciate that Christmas is an important event for Christian believers like me.
Christmas is named for the mass (celebration) of the birth of Jesus Christ. The birth of Jesus is the third most important celebration for Christians. Good Friday and Easter are the most central events for followers of Jesus.
Before man first sinned against God he was warned that the penalty for sin was death. Good Friday remembers that Jesus died in our place, paying the price for the sins of mankind. Easter reminds us that Jesus did not stay in the grave, He rose from the dead proving that He had conquered death. As the Apostle Paul wrote, if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then we are still in our sins. Paul reasoned that if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then Christians who had placed their belief and trust in Him were of all men to be most pitied. Having noted that, Paul lived and died proclaiming that Jesus was alive.
But of course none of this could have happened if Jesus had not been sent in the first place. Christians celebrate Christmas remembering that Jesus was a gift from God, a gift that we did not deserve. God would have been entirely justified not sending Jesus, and justified in holding mankind accountable for its sin. But the Bible teaches that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son Jesus that whoever believes in Him would not be punished but would be given eternal life. For Christians, celebrating Christmas is just a small way of saying thanks to God for sending Jesus.
In that spirit, I want to wish all our subscribers a very Merry Christmas. May your holiday get togethers be happy ones, and may you find some way to express and experience the generosity of the season. Let the Christmas story, whether for you it's fact or fiction, be an example for you doing something for someone who does not deserve your kindness.
Compulife has previously advised our subscribers that those buying our Internet comparison engine are entitled to obtain, at no additional charge, 20 copies of Compulife Lite at NO CHARGE. Compulife Lite retails for $99 per year and is available to bulk buyers for $89 per copy per year.
Compulife wants to sweeten that deal further for bulk buyers. Compulife will permit those who buy Compulife Lite in bulk, and who are prepared to distribute their Lite systems by Internet (we'll tell you how) to include and ship the Windows version of the program to their sub-users.
For more information about that new option, and instructions on how all that can be done, please call Bob Barney at (800) 798-3488.
Just to remind you, a subscription to the Internet engine is a one time fee of $500 plus $1,495 per year. Once again, that includes 20 free bulk subscriptions to Compulife Lite.
Last month I told you that I don't believe I can adequately convey the importance of our mid-month updating service. Having talked about that, I feel the need to further stress the importance of that service and correct some misunderstandings that have arisen.
1. Internet Mid-Month Updates occur as needed. Some have told me they assume it is a single update in the middle of the month. If you read the bulletin page where you download the update from, you will clearly see that is not the case. Some changes are posted as often as daily.
2. You can use Mid-Month Updates regardless of how you obtain your monthly update from Compulife. As long as you have a copy of the current monthly update for Compulife, regardless of whether it is personal use, agency or a Lite system, you can obtain and process the mid-month update files.
If you are routinely downloading mid-month updates from the Internet and experiencing no difficulties doing so, and you are still taking monthly updates by disk, we would like to remind you that you can save yourself $50 per year by switching from disk updates to Internet monthly updates. It's your money.
The first general release of the new Windows software was included in the November Internet edition of Compulife. Those who update monthly by disk will have to wait until the February 2001 edition to get the new Windows software.
If you want the newest Windows program now, and don't update monthly by Internet, you can download it from our mid-month update service. Call us if you have any trouble downloading the mid-month update.
As we move toward completion of the new Windows program, we are looking forward to making additional improvement and changes to our software. The first of these changes will be improvements to the way that premiums are categorized in Compulife.
The first of these changes will be the addition of a new "regular plus" premium category. A number of companies have introduced "standard plus", "standard best", "select", etc., rate categories which the companies argue are not "preferred" rates but are slightly better than standard rates. Until now we have avoided adding a new category simply because we do not like to start market trends, we prefer to respond to them. However, there are now so many of these "standard plus" rates that subscribers are complaining that they are hard to weed through.
When the new category is implemented, the client entry screen will allow the Plus question to be answered regardless of whether the client is regular or preferred. When a comparison is made, a new light green designation "R+" will show up next to those premiums which are in the new category. Further, if the preferred question is answered no (meaning regular), and the plus question is answered no (not checked), comparisons will not include the standard plus rates. Look for that change in January although we will introduce it in the mid-month updates for December.
This change was discussed in great detail in our November bulletin. Given that copies of the November bulletin are available at our www.compulife.com website, we would refer you to the website for full details.
The expanded categories will be a significant modification and improvement to the system and will permit up to 4 preferred non-smoking categories, 4 non-smoking categories, 3 preferred smoking categories and 3 smoking categories. Each of these categories can be further qualified by being plus or non-plus.
In some cases life companies have adopted premium category titles that label categories in a confusing way. With the changes we will be implementing, we will be able to record and display the company's category labels instead of the standard language that we currently use.