Dear Mentor Software Users:

All of our retail products now include copy protection. While somewhat inconvenient at times, this change benefits our clients as well as Mentor Software.

While our domestic revenues may increase slightly, by using copy protection, Mentor Software can now distribute internationally with more confidence that our rights to the fruits of our labor will not be abused. Thus, we expect to reap a small financial benefit. However, our experience so far has shown that our clients will experience more significant benefits.

1. Within any major release level, updates for all of our products are now available to all licensed users at no charge. Updates are available immediately; and the incredibly costly, time consuming, and wasteful cycle of notice of update, order update, ship update, invoice update fee, pay update fee, post update fee payment is pretty much gone.
   

2. Using the protection system, we are able to offer new clients an annual license. New clients are no longer required invest a large sum in technology that could be obsolete in a couple of months time. Annual licenses also provide a definitive motivation for Mentor Software to keep its products abreast of the latest technology.
   

3. Our products are available immediately without making us poor and UPS or Federal Express rich in the mean time.
   

4. New clients can use the product in their own environment to assure that it meets their requirements before incurring a license fee.
   

5. And yes, the potential client who only needs to do one file can do so without incurring a license fee.

Given these benefits, we arrived at the conclusion that clients will benefit just as much, if not more, from the use of software protection; and that these benefits for outweigh the minor inconvenience required.

Till next time,

Norm Olsen