Hard to make sense, page-10

I may not have explained my points adequately. I've not experienced ADA software of course but I have no doubt that it is a sophisticated, great to use application with a complex framework underneath driving it. The steady increase in the customer database across time attests to that.
It's all about what "sticky" means. To me sticky customers are those that remain with a provider because anything else is difficult. A client of HSN for example would not be able to change easily because the cost of data conversions and the risk of failure on the transfer as you keep all the balls in the air makes it so. This is because their software becomes entangled in the bowels of the clients operations. So HSN, GTK, TNE and others like them don't lose customers often. Customers remain "sticky". But they don't get new customers often either. They achieve this by buying out competitors and gathering their clients via this process. As a result they probably run multiple versions of the software (one for each takeover) and have built large intangible assets onto their balance sheet being partial representation of such takeover costs.

I'm guessing that customers such as ADA (and IRI as another example) offer stand alone applications that could be turned off with less risk. So they can gather new clients more easily and lose them the same way. Both have great customers who have been with them for a long time but they're not sticky. They're just happy to stay with a great product. The thing is if somebody comes along with a slightly better product at a slightly less price, the client may find that changeover is achievable with minimum disruption.

In the case of ADA someone has arrived on the scene with an offering that is comparable, maybe even better. ADA has said that it's a copy of what they offer so it goes to court. If the court agrees ADA will be a winner. If they lose ADA will have a competitor, possibly one with a slightly better offering.

And then will come the "sticky" customer test and hence (I think) the reason for the massive drop in the price.

Well, that's what I think anyway.