Intuit Disables Features in Quicken To Force Upgrades

Numerous people submitted a blurb from BoingBoing about Intuit disabling features in older versions of Quicken. Why the BoingBoing submitter and Mr. Doctorow are so upset about this I don't know; when you buy software that's dependent on a for-profit company to keep working, what do you expect?

Comments

Microsoft Money does this, too

[cygnusx]

From http://www.microsoft.com/uk/homepc/money/ProductDe tails.aspx?pid=003:

Internet-based services available for two (2) years after activation of Microsoft Money or 1 September 2007, whichever is earlier. See the Microsoft Money Internet-based services policy http://money.msn.com/Money/2005/GBR/IBSP.asp for details.

If you don't upgrade, you'll be able to use the software as before, but not the Internet-based services (AFAIK).

I work at a bank

[aardwolf64]

I work at a financial institution and am in charge of support for PFMs (Personal Finance Managers) including Microsoft Money and Quicken. The reason that Quicken is sunsetting support for online banking in 2001 and 2002 is that your online transactions actually come through Intuit's server, which accesses your bank server on your behalf. You can still use the older versions of Quicken, you just can't download transactions.

Microsoft Money on the other hand still works since it connects directly to the bank's OFX server. Although my bank only supports 2001 and newer, we have users that are actually connecting with Money 1999 with no problems.

You don't have to upgrade

[sd790]

I received a similar letter a few weeks back and immediately called my bank to find out if this was really going to affect my ability to use their online banking services. They told me that this will NOT cause any problems and I DON'T have to upgrade to continue using their online banking system. The only thing that I'll lose is my ability to Intuit's help desk, which I'll never do anyways.

Call your bank and check. You probably don't have to bother with it.

That is Incorrect

[aardwolf64]

From Quicken's Sunset policy FAQ:

Q: What will happen if I don't upgrade?

A: As of April 19, 2005, in accordance with the Quicken sunset policy, Online Services1 and Live Technical Support2 will no longer be available for Quicken 2001 and 2002 users. This means that you will no longer be able to download financial data into older Quicken software. You will still be able to manually enter your data.

Attempts to use Online Services after April 19, 2005 will result in a variety of program error messages related to the feature or service you try to access.

Quicken's Sunset Policy

FAQ

Try MoneyDance

[czei]

I got fed up with Intuit's bug-ridden software and abysmal tech. support in 2003 and switched to MoneyDance. The GUI isn't as slick, but I ended up spending way less time on finances because the program's well-written and well supported. Instead of talking to tech. support people on the other side of the world who are just reading from a support database you can get email back from one of the developer's in a couple of hours and your questions are answered quickly, accurately, and for free.

I looked at some open source programs at the time, but the big draw for me to MoneyDance initially was it will automatically download transactions from my bank, and there's a great matching algorithm to stick the transactions in the right budget category.

Re:Whatever happened..

[tdemark]

I used to work for Intuit UK and they were bastards.

Intuit in general are bastards.

Any time you try to import a text transaction file (QFX), the program calls home to see if the organization you downloaded from paid its "Quicken Tax".

When I called tech support because I was getting an error message when trying to import, Intuit told me that "my bank doesn't support Macs", even though I already had the QFX file.

Me: "I don't understand. I have the file, but Quicken won't import it."

Tech: "Your bank doesn't support Macs."

Me: "Why does my bank need to 'support' Macs? I have the text file, but Quicken won't import it."

Think how ridiculous it would be if Excel wouldn't import a CSV file until it called back to MS to verify that author paid an "MS Tax" (insert DRM/Palladium comment here)?

Anyway, I got around the issue by opening the file and changing the "Institution ID" to a bank that has "paid the tax". By simply changing a few characters in the file, Quicken happily imported it.

Re:MOD RACIST PARENT DOWN

[Bendy Chief]

"Yellow journalism" refers to the use of yellow ink in the printing of an old sensationalist newspaper, The New York World.

It was brought to the pinnacle of sleaziness by William Randolph Hearst, who used his empire to destroy the hemp industry, foster anti-immigrant sentiment, and commit numerous other evils.

I realize it sounds racist, but it ain't.

Parent Assumption Wrong, Article Correct (gasp)

[Somegeek]

Please mod parent -1 Self Important, Would Rather Post Than Read.

Here is a the link, (from the article quoted in the Michael's story), to the Intuit statement:

http://www.intuit.com/support/quicken/sunset/

where Intuit states (amidst the spin doctoring):

"As of April 19th, 2005, in accordance with the Quicken sunset policy, Online Services1 and Live Technical Support2 will no longer be available for Quicken 2001 and 2002 users. These services include online bill pay; downloading financial data from your bank, credit union, credit card, brokerage, 401(k) or mutual fund accounts; downloading stock quotes, news headlines and other financial information into Quicken; uploading portfolio information from Quicken to Quicken.com; and access to the investing features on Quicken.com including portfolio tracking, any watch lists you have created, One-Click Scorecard(TM), Stock Evaluator and Mutual Fund Evaluator. To continue using these services and maintain access to live technical support from an Intuit representative, you will need to upgrade."