Hello Barry, Currently there are no plans to develop a native Mac version of ACT!, due to the signficant development time and cost versus the number of business Mac users in the ACT! target market. Currently, we have a number of Mac users using the program successfully on Windows parallel operating systems. Plus we are making a push towards cloud access that will work with PC and Mac systems.
Greig Hollister
Note: Effective 6/1/13, Sage no longers provides support for the Act! software. This is now provided by Swiftpage.
I am running Daylite by Marketcircle on a Mac. They came out with a new spin and it has issues. I was an ACT user for 25 years prior. A Cloud based ACT may be nice. Especially if it ran just like a desktop version with all of the reporting features.
I'm afraid after 10 years of being a loyal Act! user, I'm forced to go to the other side. I'm in the process of Bunin g a MacBook Air an do not want to deal with Windows paltforms of any type nor do I want to buy MS Office etc. I simply wish to work entirely on the Mac without parallels and will shift gears from ACT! to either SalesForce.com or Daylite.
It's a shame ACT! is willing to lose loyal fans from it's client base... they may never comeback. The cost of obtaining a new client is far more expensive than it is to retain a present client. I would opt for an internet based solution (Salesforce) if a resident program is not available. Sorry ACT!...someday your bean counters may regrat their decisions!
I was in the same situation as you. I am a loyal ACT user and a year ago switched to Mac. I installed Parallels and Windows 7 using ACT 2012 Prem. This situation has worked well for me but I would rather have aMac based program.
I looked at the "other" CRM programs and even tried one for a few weeks. Truth is that I came running back to ACT because of it's features and stability. I am in the same situation as you but I feel you will find that the "Grass is not always greener" somewhere else. ACT works,...period.
Until Sage sees that even the corporate world is slowly swictching to Mac,..they will ingnore us.
My suggestion for Sage execs,...go to your local mall any day of the week and check out the Apple store. It's full of white collar business men and women buying expensive laptops. These are your CRM targets.
Thank you for sharing your similar situation. I'm really trying to avoid the Parallels as I don't want to partition the hard drive for Windows and Window products. Another concern is the RAM being stretched running both Windows, Act and Parallels as well as the Mac apps.
Although I do appreciate working with ACT virtually as we know the program and won't need to do a data conversion but in an effort to go 100% Mac I've been looking at both SalesForce and Daylite.
I suspect that you don't realize the magnitude of creating a version of the ACT! program to run on the MAC. Because the ACT! program presently uses the Microsoft .NET framework and MSSQL, creating a version for the MAC wouldn't be canverting ACT! to run on the MAC but would require several manyears development effort to write a new version of the ACT! program that was native MAC compatible.
Another option for MAC users is ACT! for the WEB using a hosting service.
