Cooking: How do they do that?

I've been using a recipe organizing software called "Cook'n".  I started using it because Master Cook is abandonware, and Living Cookbook needed me to call and ask for a license reset EVERY freaking time I reformatted my operating drive.  Up until this month, Cook'n was a dream to use.

Oh, sure, there were little things about it that bothered me, like the jury-rigged way you have to do ingredients if you need to qualify it with something with a comma (onions, chopped means you have to type ,_chopped in an ingredient field) and some of the weird linked recipe bugs I've found over the years, but until version 9 it was a good resource for menu planning.

I've purchased several cookbook modules from them, all sent via download link in an EXE file.  I save them diligently on my hard drive, backing them up in case I need them.  I had a problem installing version nine that necessitated uninstalling BOTH versions of Cook'n, both 8 and 9 and reinstalling both of them again.  Why would I need to install both again?  BECAUSE their EXE files for their cookbooks are NOT backwards compatible.  Over $100 in cookbooks and recipes purchased over a span of years, and all were useless unless I installed version 8, installed all the cookbooks, then installed version 9 which would automatically import them.  The first time.  But not on subsequent re-installations.  Oh no.

The flaw in their system was brought sharply home to me when, on a whim, I ordered the download version of "Holiday Cooking".  It had a LOT of recipes, was less than $15, and seasonally appropriate.  Much to my dismay, when I tried to install it, it said I didn't have Cook'n installed.  It also politely asked me to call an (801) area code number if I needed assistance.  As if.

Now, I could back everything up, uninstall everything, and reinstall it all, adding this one cookbook.  But why should I have to?  I even tried exporting from version 8 to a DVO file, and importing into 9 (something I'd desperately tried on my first 9 installation).  But no.  Those files are not backwards compatible either.

I probably wouldn't be angry about all of this if they hadn't PUSHED BACK the release date of 9 in order to "provide a better product on release".  Really?  What exactly DID you fix?

I am *this* close to going back to Living Cookbook... and they still haven't replied to a technical service email I sent them five years ago.  That's how irritated I am.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO SELL DOWNLOADABLE PRODUCTS ON YOUR WEBSITE, CLEARLY MARK THEM AS TO WHAT VERSION NUMBER THEY ARE COMPATIBLE WITH, OR UPDATE YOUR FILES BEFORE RELEASING A NEW VERSION.