The English version of Q&A was released initially in September 1993. It was
followed by another release in November 1993. The first is known as "4.0", while
the second is "4.01".
The second release fixed some bugs in the first release, but there appears to
be no documentation about what was fixed and as far as we know, people using the
earlier release do not seem to report more or different problems than those
using the later release.
To confuse matters further, there were no changes in the manual to reflect
the new release; both are identified simply as "4.0". Similarly, version numbers
on floppy diskettes and the help and splash screens also do not reflect any
difference. Even Microsoft Explorer reports both as version "4.0".
Even though we don't know what bugs were fixed, there is at least one
difference which is very visible: the "Help, About" screen is different. In
fact, that's the easiest way to tell which version is which. Additionally, both
the file dates and the file sizes are different.
If you have the early version, 4.0, should you upgrade to 4.01? We would
recommend it simply because Symantec released it for a reason. (At Software
Services and Products we have only been using 4.01 and so we cannot speak
from personal experience how unstable 4.0 is.)
The QAWIN Compatibility Patch is available for both versions of Q&A
for Windows. Therefore, if you have 4.0 and you do not choose to upgrade to
4.01, we can send you (via e-mail) the QAWIN Compatibility Patch for version 4.0.
If you do want to upgrade, it would be easier to upgrade first, and then get
the patch for 4.01. If you get the patch for 4.0 and then upgrade to 4.01, you
will still need to get the 4.01 patch. We will not charge a second time to send
the 4.01 patch but would of course prefer not to have to send both.
These comments pertain to the English version of QAWIN. The German version
also has two releases, but the French, Dutch, and Swedish only seem to have been
released once.
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