Important Policy Announcements

I. Software Release Hosting and Support Lifecycle Policy

Background

Since February 2007 RightNow Technologies has delivered software releases each calendar quarter to provide customer rapid access to new features and innovations. Specifically, four software releases are now delivered to customers annually (in addition to service packs) – one each in February, May, August and November (except for Japan, as outlined below).

To ensure RightNow provides each customer the high levels of service, support and product quality expected for each software release, and to best facilitate customer upgrade planning, each software release is subject to a standard lifecycle and end-of-life date. Specifics are outlined in the following Software Release Hosting and Support Lifecycle Policy.

Software Release Naming Convention

The name of each RightNow software release will include the month and year the release becomes generally available (e.g. “RightNow February ’09”). This naming convention provides a simple, straightforward way to identify releases within a quarterly release schedule. It also easily facilitates upgrade planning. By adding 24 months on to the date incorporated into the release name, the release end-of-life date is identified.

This naming convention replaces RightNow’s prior naming convention which included a version number in the release name (e.g. “RightNow 8.2”). RightNow 8.2 was the last software release that included the version number in its name. The newer naming convention took effect for RightNow’s November ’07 release.

RightNow will host and fully support software releases for 24 months following the date the release becomes generally available (except for Japan as indicated in Japan Release Lifecycle below). After 24 months, the release will be considered at its end of life. By a release’s end-of-life date, customers should have upgraded to a more recent release to take advantage of new features and functionality.

The 24-month release lifecycle applies to RightNow 8.0 and future versions. The end-of-life date for RightNow 7.5 and prior versions is based on a scheduled phase-out period and is no longer supported. End-of-life dates for each RightNow version are listed in the table below.

RightNow Version End-Of-Life Dates¹

RightNow Version	End-Of-Life Date
All versions prior to RightNow 8.1	Already reached end-of-life
RightNow 8.1	May 31, 2009
RightNow 8.2	August 31, 2009
RightNow November ’07	November 30, 2009
RightNow November ’07 Release 2	September 30, 2010
RightNow February ’08	February 28, 2010
RightNow May ’08	May 31, 2010
RightNow August ’08	August 31, 2010
RightNow November ’08	November 30, 2010
RightNow February ’09	February 28, 2011
Future RightNow versions	24 months following date of availability (on last day of applicable month)
RightNow Salesnet	Not applicable

¹ Special conditions for Japan apply. See prior section Japan Release Lifecycle.

Benefits of Upgrading

A critical component of every RightNow deployment is a planned upgrade strategy. Customers who systematically upgrade to the most recent RightNow software versions will have consistent access to RightNow’s most advanced product capabilities. By standardizing on a release lifecycle of 24 months, RightNow offers a straightforward, predictable upgrade path to facilitate each customer’s upgrade planning. While this approach requires customers to periodically upgrade, it still offers customers substantial flexibility and control over the timing of their upgrades.

To plan for or discuss a future upgrade and to learn about RightNow service packages designed to facilitate upgrade implementations, please contact your account executive.

Upgrade Planning Example: RightNow’s February ’09 software release was generally available in February 2009. Under this Software Release Hosting and Support Lifecycle Policy, this release will be hosted and fully supported for 24 months. Therefore, it will reach its end-of-life date on February 28, 2011.

Please use this policy to plan for future upgrades.

RightNow will deliver every quarterly release in the Japanese language, but Japanese documentation will only be released in Japan twice a year, in May and November. RightNow will host and fully support these releases for 24 months following the date the Japanese documentation becomes generally available. All other terms of RightNow’s Software Release Hosting and Support Lifecycle Policy apply to Japan.

II. Information about Continued Support for Older Product Capabilities

In future software releases RightNow will replace some product capabilities with either new, improved capabilities or advise customers of alternative solutions. RightNow encourages customers using the older product capabilities highlighted in this section to upgrade if new, improved capabilities are available. By doing so, customers will have access to improved functionality and be able to take advantage of new capabilities. For assistance in upgrade planning, please contact your account executive.

Please note a deprecated feature is a feature that still appears in previous versions of the product and is still supported, but for which notification has been made that the feature will be removed in future versions. Please see section “III. Communications on Future Support Lifecycle Policy Updates” for more details. Deprecated features are fully supported within the product as long as the RightNow releases bundled with these features are still supported.

While every effort is made to communicate feature deprecations a quarter in advance of each release, RightNow reserve the right to deprecate, modify, or remove features from any future release without prior notice. This includes sample reports and sample applications.

A. RightNow Chat

RightNow Live was renamed RightNow Chat in August 2008. Two versions of RightNow Chat are supported today:

• RightNow Chat 8.2, the most recent version of chat, was released with RightNow 8.2. It will remain hosted and fully supported going forward. RightNow Chat 8.2 is available for hosted deployments only. An on-premise version is not available, and no plans currently exist to provide an on-premise version.
• RightNow Chat 8.1 is RightNow’s older version of chat available for both hosted and on-premise deployments. RightNow Chat 8.1 was removed from the RightNow February ’08 release, and from all subsequent releases.

Note this does not mean RightNow Chat 8.1 is completely unavailable to customers after February 2008. It simply means RightNow Chat 8.1 was removed from the February ’08 release (and from subsequent releases). RightNow Chat 8.1 will remain supported in prior releases until those releases meet their end-of-life dates, even if the end-of-life date is later than February 2008.

Also note that the on-premise version of RightNow Chat 8.1 is only available for RightNow releases supporting on-premise deployments.

Customers using RightNow Chat 8.1 today should refer to the software release end-of-life schedule previously provided in this announcement to determine when the software release they are currently using will no longer be available.

A chart summarizing hosting and support for RightNow Chat is listed below. As the chart indicates, beginning with the February ’08 release, only RightNow Chat 8.2 will be supported.

Please click image to enlarge

B. Pre-RightNow 8 Versions of RightNow Feedback

RightNow Metrics was renamed RightNow Feedback before the introduction of RightNow 8. Support for pre-RightNow 8 versions of RightNow Feedback (including closed incident surveys) was removed or will be removed according to the following schedule.

• All pre-RightNow 8 versions of RightNow Feedback except those integrated with RightNow 8 releases reached end of life on November 30, 2008. This date is also the end-of-life date for RightNow 7.5.
• All pre-RightNow 8 versions of RightNow Feedback integrated with RightNow 8.1, RightNow 8.2 and RightNow November ’07 releases will be hosted and fully supported until those releases meet their end-of-life dates. Integrations of pre-RightNow 8 versions of RightNow Feedback were removed from the February ’08 release and are not available in any subsequent releases.

When upgrading to the February ’08 release, and future releases, customers must use the version of Feedback bundled with that release to use Feedback capabilities.

Versions of RightNow Feedback bundled with RightNow 8 releases and for all future releases thereafter will be hosted and fully supported according to the end-of-life schedule for the RightNow release it is bundled with. For example, RightNow Feedback bundled with the RightNow November ’08 release will reach its end-of-life when RightNow November ’08 reaches its end-of-life on November 30, 2010.

The following chart summarizes hosting and support for RightNow Feedback.

Please click image to enlarge

C. Selected Features in RightNow Connect

A small number of features available in RightNow Connect may be deprecated or superseded by newer features in later versions of RightNow Connect. Beginning with the November ’08 release and for all future releases thereafter, any RightNow Connect feature to be deprecated or superseded will be identified in the release specific release notes, with a timeframe indicating how long the feature will remain supported for, and how to achieve the same integration objective with a work around or a newer feature. Release notes are available for each new software release, and can be found on the RightNow Developer Community File Exchange.

D. Microsoft Outlook Navigation

Microsoft Outlook Navigation was removed from RightNow November ’07 and will be removed from all subsequent releases. This feature removal does not impact Microsoft Outlook Integration; Microsoft Outlook Integration remains available. Microsoft Outlook Navigation is the ability to access Outlook from within the RightNow Console. Microsoft Outlook Integration is the ability to synch emails, contacts, and tasks between RightNow and Outlook.

RightNow currently provides three web self-service page sets. The Classic web self-service page set is the ‘end-user’ page set that was first released in RightNow version 4.0. A redesigned “end-user” page set was introduced in the RightNow November ’07 release and is referred to as the November ’07 page set. The latest Customer Portal web self-service page set was first released in the August ’08 release and is the default “end-user” page set since. Please note all three web self-service page sets are available in subsequent releases unless they have been deprecated (see next paragraph for more information). They will be hosted and fully supported according to the end-of-life schedule for the RightNow release it is bundled with.

Beginning with the RightNow February ’10 release and for all future releases thereafter, RightNow will no longer include the Classic page set and the November ’07 page set. The Customer Portal page set will be the only available web self-service option for customers on the February ’10 release and for later releases. The Customer Portal page set allows you to brand and personalize your website service experience with Web 2.0 technologies. We encourage you to plan in advance and decide when and how you want to move to this more flexible and capable Customer Portal platform. For assistance in upgrade planning, please contact your account executive.

Note the Classic page set and the November ’07 page set will remain supported in prior releases until those releases meet their end-of-life dates, even if the end-of-life date is later than February 2010.

The following chart summarizes hosting and support for the web self-service page sets (including the Classic page set, the November ’07 page set and the Customer Portal page set).

Please click image to enlarge

All future support lifecycle policy updates will be posted on RightNow’s website with past policy announcements archived for customer reference. RightNow will also communicate hosting and support lifecycle policy changes to the technical contacts associated with active customer accounts via email.