General Q&A - ComponentOne a division of GrapeCity: effective 07.01.12

On July 1, 2012, ComponentOne and GrapeCity will join forces to bring you the best tools for Microsoft Visual Studio and beyond. From that date forward, ComponentOne will be a division of GrapeCity.
This document provides questions and answers regarding the merger. The document includes general, subscription, product, support, and sales questions. For more information, contact ComponentOne.

General Q&A
Who is GrapeCity?
Founded in 1980, our corporate headquarters is located in Sendai, Japan, with operations spanning throughout the United States and Asia. GrapeCity is the world's largest component vendor. Our award-winning tools benefit leading corporations, software companies, and independent consultants around the world as a cost-effective solution for building distributed enterprise-wide applications for commercial or in-house use. From the CEO to our newest team member, our goals are the same: to provide you with the innovative tools and support you need to thrive in today's competitive development market.
Our success stems from our use of a proven global delivery model that draws on our extensive software development experience (including development of our own industry-leading products and components for the North American and Asian markets). In addition, we hire only the best and brightest for our global development centers, while maintaining a local footprint to ensure our clients of timely communication and a high level of customer service.
GrapeCity is an award-winning Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, a premier Visual Studio Industry Partner and one of the world’s largest providers of developer components. The company has more than 850 employees and hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide. For more than 30 years, GrapeCity has provided enterprises around the world with state-of-the-art developer tools and components, software services and solutions.
To learn more about GrapeCity, please visit http://www.grapecity.com.

Are you keeping the ComponentOne name?
Yes. We are pleased to announce that the US GrapeCity PowerTools division will be renamed to ComponentOne. The ComponentOne brand name is so strong in the market that the US GrapeCity PowerTools name had proudly been rebranded as ComponentOne. We will also be using the ComponentOne brand in every Asian company outside of Japan. ComponentOne has been a longtime partner of GrapeCity in Japan. In addition, the two companies have been friendly competitors in the US, by doing joint marketing campaigns and sharing technical information. The synergy between the two companies has always been very good, and as a result the transition has been very smooth.

What does this mean to you, as a ComponentOne and/or GrapeCity PowerTools customer?
Everything. GrapeCity has been reselling ComponentOne products in Japan since 1994, and has the incentive and the resources to take ComponentOne products to a new level and do it on an international stage. This combination of resources is a great fit for our customers in terms of complimentary product offerings, sales and support, and our continuing advancement of technology innovation. ComponentOne and Grape City are very serious about being number one in the business of data visualization, business intelligence, and web technologies. It means that no matter what platforms developers use to create applications we will deliver the tools to help them create amazing, beautifully-polished applications in much less time.

I understand that the acquisition will be officially completed with the combined company operating as a single company on July 1, 2012. During the interim period, what impacts (if any) will the acquisition have on me?

**

There will be very little impact on our customers between now and July 1st. Customers will continue to contact sales and support personnel as they have in the past. New messaging and content will begin to appear on the ComponentOne and GrapeCity PowerTools websites. Otherwise, you will see very little change in terms of how to do business with and interact with ComponentOne and GrapeCity PowerTools teams. Starting July 1st, we will begin operating as a single company with merged websites, shopping carts, sales, and support organizations.**

Subscription Q&A
Does the acquisition affect my current subscription service? If so, how?
The acquisition will have no impact on your current subscription service. You will continue to receive the same benefits for the coverage period that you had before the acquisition.

Are Spread and/or ActiveReports now included in my current ComponentOne subscription(s)?
No. The Spread and ActiveReports products are licensed separately from the collection of ComponentOne Studio product offerings. Existing ComponentOne customers that have an interest in Spread and/or ActiveReports will need to purchase separate subscriptions for these products.

Are ActiveReports and Spread included in ComponentOne Ultimate? If not, are you planning to offer an “Uber Ultimate” package that includes both?
No. ActiveReports, Spread, and ActiveAnalyis will continue to be sold independently. There are no immediate plans to offer one comprehensive Studio that will include these products; however, we will continue to monitor the situation and will adjust our offerings based on the needs and requests of our customers. For the full list of what’s inside the current ComponentOne Ultimate product, please visit www.componentone.com/SuperProducts/Ultimate/Products+Included/.

Product Q&A
How does the announcement affect the Studio Enterprise 2012 v2 release schedule?
It does not. Our release schedule will remain as it is today. We will still have three releases per year, in the months of March, July, and November.

I’m a Doc-To-Help customer, how will this change affect the product?
It will not. Doc-To-Help is and will continue to be our help authoring solution for all platforms.
How does Spread compare to ComponentOne FlexGrid and True DBGrid? For example, when should I use Spread and when should I use ComponentOne FlexGrid and True DBGrid?
Spread is essentially Microsoft Excel, packaged as a control. It has practically all of Excel's functionality built in, including features such as charting, grouping, formula support, and more. Features unique to Spread include formula calculations using over 300 built-in Excel functions, Excel-like conditional formatting, and full featured import/export of Excel XLS and XLSX documents, including formulas, charts, sparklines, borders, cell formatting, and more.
The FlexGrid and TrueDBGrid controls, on the other hand, are traditional data grid controls. They offer great performance and customizability, both in terms of appearance and behavior.
If you would like to have Excel embedded in your applications, then Spread is the logical choice. If you need traditional data grid functionality, then you should consider FlexGrid or TrueDBGrid.

Support Q&A
Have the customer support hours changed?
No, they have not. Our phone support hours will remain 9am-5pm EST. We will continue to answer support incidents submitted over the web within 2 business days (1 business day for Platinum customers).

How do I get product support on ComponentOne products? On GrapeCity PowerTools products?
ComponentOne support will be unchanged. You can submit a question using the MySupport portal (http://www.componentone.com/Support/default.aspx)) or ask your question in our community (http://sphelp.grapecity.com/groups/)). Platinum support customers can continue to call our phone support number at 412.681.4738 for assistance.

Starting July 1, 2012, GrapeCity PowerTools customers will be able to submit a question using our MySupport portal (http://www.componentone.com/Support/default.aspx)) or ask their questions in the community for their respective products (http://www.clubfarpoint.com/Forums/forums/default.aspx for Spread products and http://www.datadynamics.com/Forums/Default.aspx for ActiveReports/ActiveAnalysis).

Are you planning to discontinue/sunset any of the ComponentOne/GrapeCity PowerTools products? If so, how long will they be supported? We have no immediate plans to discontinue/sunset any of our products. If at some time in the future we decide to do that, then the following applies:
1) We will always provide an upgrade path to existing customers.

2) We will always continue to maintain all products as long as they are being used by our customers. This includes bug fixes and technical support. "Sunsetting" means we will no longer add new features to a product.

3) We have a proven track record in this regard, being the only major component vendor that still sells and supports ActiveX controls.

How are open support tickets being handled?
Nothing changes in the short term. The GrapeCity PowerTools and ComponentOne support teams will continue to provide support to customers worldwide as they have in the past. Open tickets will be handled and responses provided to customers through the normal support channels. Starting July 1, 2012, the GrapeCity PowerTools and ComponentOne support teams will be merged into one support team. Additional information will be shared with our customers as these changes are implemented.

Sales Q&A
How do I purchase ComponentOne and GrapeCity PowerTools products? Customers wanting to purchase ComponentOne and GrapeCity PowerTools products today can:
? Purchase via the ComponentOne or GrapeCity PowerTools online website shopping carts.
? Contact either ComponentOne or GrapeCity PowerTools offices by email or phone.
? Purchase through the existing networks of worldwide distributors and resellers.
Starting July 1st, customers will be able to purchase all ComponentOne and GrapeCity PowerTools products from a single shopping cart on the ComponentOne website, by calling ComponentOne headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA, or by contacting the combined network of resellers and distributors that will be listed on the ComponentOne website.

How does the acquisition affect product pricing?
There is no change to product pricing. All product prices remain the same as they were prior to the acquisition.

I’m a ComponentOne (or GrapeCity PowerTools) reseller/distributor. What impact will the acquisition have on me? Will I need to sign a new contract?
All existing reseller and distributor agreements will remain intact and unchanged through June 30, 2012. Existing reseller/distributor agreements will need to be reassigned to the new ComponentOne, a Division of GrapeCity company and will become effective July 1, 2012. For additional information, please contact the ComponentOne Channel Sales team in Pittsburgh.

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