As the state of the art grinds forward, older versions of applications will stop working. If you are too many versions behind, it may not be a simple task to catch up your data. It's easier for us at the Computing Center to help you. With several versions of a given application out there, it's sometimes very difficult for us to troubleshoot problems. The fewer variables in a problem makes it faster for us to track down the solution.
Some applications have licenses that expire on certain dates, requiring periodic updates.
Additionally, if this is a major upgrade, it may take a fair amount of work to learn the new application. The other hard part of keeping your software current is knowing what the current versions are. To help with that, refer to the supported software list . Page maintained by Information Technology Services.