RANT

Well, this isn't really an offer of business services but a rant against software that many of you may use, particularly to manage your business. It is meant to alert you to shady practices by software makers.

I've been a loyal Quicken user since 1993 or there about. For those that don't know, Quicken is financial management software made Intuit, who also makes Turbotax.

Anyway, a couple of months ago, the ability to download transactions from my financial institution became disabled by Quicken saying that they no longer supported my version.

WTF?

I was not experiencing any kind of issue with the software other than I could no longer download transactions. I contacted my bank and they told me that they were still capable of creating the necessary file. The inability to download my transaction occurred at Intuit's servers where they intercepted my download request. Apparently, this is a preemptive move on the part of Intuit to force customers to upgrade perfectly functional and working software.

OK, so I've been limping along manually updating my accounts. Today I decided to go get the new version.

Mind you, my version of Quicken was the Basic version. I have no need for all the bells and whistles, and especially the added-value products they include in the Deluxe and Premier versions. I quickly saw that the basic version is no longer sold. Hmmmm. But there is something called the "Starter edition". So that's what I bought.

Went home, slipped in the DVD, and "This version of Quicken is not capable of importing data from previous versions of Quicken. If you choose to continue, all of your Quicken data will be lost."

WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF?

So, not only do they force you to upgrade, they force you to purchase the pricier versions in order to keep your data.

At the very least, they should have put on the outside of the box in big red letters: "NOT COMPATIBLE WITH PREVIOUS VERSIONS".

What the fuck kind of business plan is that?

Justin, I have not used quicken recently, but I used to use Quickbooks and they forced you every year to buy tax updates. Several years went by with no effective changes to the tax tables, but yet they would insist that you had to buy an update each year. I found that by changing the calender year on my computer back to the previous year would allow me to run payroll and avoid their "Time to Buy an Update" warning. Roll back your computer's year and it might allow you to download the file from your bank...

I'm with ya on this one... Intuit sucks. Microsuck sucks. Hell, they all suck, at least all the 'big boys' do. I have software from smaller, often one-man companies, which are stand-up kinda players. But most of the larger companies screw you over like that to force you to pay up over and over and over. Hell, that's how they got to be so big in the first place.

Here is a suggestion for you though...

I do not use Quicken, so I can't speak for that product specifically, but if I were in your situation I would try to find some freeware or cheap shareware which can convert your files for you. Just google something like "converting quicken files" and see if you can find something that works for you.

A second idea is to look at your OLD quicken software and see if you can export/save your files to a different (non-proprietary) format, such as a csv file or the like. Then using the new version see if you can import from that non-proprietary format.

Good luck!

sounds shady as hell on their part. I hope you get this all figured out.

Go here...

www.pc-utilities.co.uk

There are several money management programs there that may help you.