Others say...

"Quicken Deluxe 2008"
Quicken 2008 Deluxe
Excelent product.
Have used it for years and it is absolutely outstanding.

"Make time to learn."
Not the easisest piece of software to understand but definitely does the job. If you are unfamiliar with the product get the "Dummies" guide.

"Seem to introduce more bugs than features."
How should I start. Support is incredibly horrible. This would have been a 4 star rating, but based on support dealing when I try to report a bug brings it down.

If you run on Vista, you have to run it as administrator. That means each OFX you download from websites ask your permission. When support was asked when that would be patched to run as a non-priv user, they replied that it is "by design" and it is "for your security". That is an incredible misunderstanding of what running as administrator gets you.

If you use Kaspersky antivirus, it will cause all http/https applications to lock up randomly during a one step update. There are workarounds, just be warned.

While one step updating, they have made the update progress non-modal. But don't expect to be able to do much while its updating. Transaction registers stop being able to tab between fields. Selecting payees forgets to populate the category. All these bug only occur during one step update and stop after. Support ticket on that one is 5 months old with no response.

I'm not certain that anyone besides the first level script wielding employees see bug reports. I've been a quicken user for 8 years. DO NOT UPGRADE to this. If the datafiles would back convert, I'd install 2005 again.

"I am forced to abandon it."
I had Quicken since version 98, few years I had to upgrade to version 2005 since they would not support the data format. Now they are doing it again. If you don't upgrade to the new version, they will discontinue the on-line service. Fine, if this is the way you treat your customers, I have no problem leaving.


"If not already committed to this product, take a long hard look at open source software such as GNU Cash."
A forced/hostage upgrade from Quicken 2005. You "have" to upgrade since they've cut a deal with the financial institutions to cut off your online access with the institutions if you don't upgrade every three years. Just as found when I was hostage upgraded in 2005 from 2002, there's nothing more than a cosmetic face-lift, no meaningful fixes/improvements -- but there's even more problems.

* Product now will not connect properly to Fidelity; no problem under 2005.

* Took forever to figure out how to turn off a "reminder" function ... that kept reminding me to pay bills already scheduled to be paid using the auto-pay function. 2005 did the same thing and it's not been fixed.

*You can turn off the product registration nag screen ... if you Google to find out how. Product does not have to be registered to use it.

* Un-reconciles accounts six months back every once in a while. I've been assuming that's being caused by a few bytes of bad data that occasionally comes from the financial institutions ... that the Quicken people have not properly coded so as to filter out. This bug also surfaced in 2005. Two weeks into 2008, I've seen it again already.

* You can't turn off the "free update/revision" nag screen unless you take the update. No such nag screen in 2005.

* When connecting, the completion screen used to show which accounts had new transactions to match and had convenient buttons next to each to take you directly to the account. Gone in 2008. Now I have to look through every account each time to see where transactions might have been retrieved.

* Icons everywhere attempting to peddle other unwanted Quicken products. One of the 'product improvements' in 2008.

* Doesn't handle stock distributions correctly (since they were not actually paid for); keeps generating error messages when you enter the correct posting of no cost incurred. Same problem in 2005.

* Tricky screens/checkboxes/prompts that try to bait you into using/enrolling for QuickenDot services when you don't have to or need to. Users that did so now post complaints they can't undo it and that the QuickenDot server is constantly down, causing problems/delays when trying to connect to other accounts using a one-step update.

Yet another company that's grown totally complacent about product quality while wallowing in its assured-for-the-moment revenue stream. It will bite them hard in the long-run. Postings indicate similar complaining regarding the major competitor product, Microsoft Money. If history is any lesson, there's no reason to suspect that these software products will ever get better under these conditions. Some other product will have to steal their customer base before they wake up and smell the coffee.

If you are not already committed to either of those two products, take a good long look at open source software such as GNU Cash.

[Update April 15, 2008] Does now connect to Fidelity ... occasionally. When I opened the portfolio area today, the entire computer screen flashed with confusion and the product crashed. 2005 never once crashed. Still flashing but no subsequent crashes. Who knows what happened. Not me. Apparently not Quicken programmers either.