2009 was a big year for act! users to get connected.

at the addon store we reviewed the trends and sales totals for the products act! users are buying so we may establish our own internal priorities for 2010 and beyond. sharing our list of the top five sellers may offer you some insight as well.

the top 5 act! addons for 2009, based on dollars by vendor:

1. companionlink
2. swiftpage email
3. crm addon factory
4. e tech systems
5. personal crm

the top 5 act! addons for 2009, based on units by product:

1. companionlink express by companionlink
2. doublelook for act! by companionlink
3. act!pak! by e tech systems
4. companionlink pro by companionlink
5. mailmerge for act! 2007 (v9) and higher PKO

look for more information on these products by visiting our website.  next up, the trends for 2010.

smart act! consultant friend, jeremy wesley of RTG Hosting, presented on the topic at our Mastering ACT! 2010 conference in october revealing how moving to a mac doesn’t mean losing either your windows applications, nor the full functionality of act! 2010.

jeremy showcased two options and i added a third:

1. VMware has an application for mac, VM Fusion, that allows mac users to keep a virtual window (XP, Vista, or Win7) for every windows application you need.  act! can integrate with other windows apps (like outlook and excel) as well as addon applications.
2. set the database server up with ACT! Premium for Web and access the database with apple’s Safari browser.  (sidenote: sadly safari 4 is not supported by act! for web.  !clang!  half-point deduction.)
3. access your windows server with the OS-agnostic remote tool by 2x application server.

the move to mac is a recent phenomenon and many of these solutions are yet to be widely adopted.  according to Nielsen/NetRatings only 5% of computers sold are macs, but 8.7% of those browsing the internet are using a mac.  and the share is increasing.

are you using a mac, or are you considering making the change?  how do you see yourself using act! in this new environment?

::: follow jeremy’s wisdom on his blog: http://www.jeremywesley.com/journal/2009/10/10/apples-act-mav-2010-presentation.html

::: check out VM Fusion here: http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/

::: ignore the ACT! by Sage product team announcement about Safari 4.0

::: look at the 2x thin client technologies application server: http://www.2x.com/applicationserver/.  actaddons.com has the product page up and will have all purchase options available soon: http://www.actaddons.com/products/2005/2x-applicationserver.asp

::: as always, you can find the best service and prices for act! addons at the addon store for act!: www.actaddons.com