The Great Software Ripoff

Unfortunately, that's not how business works these days. First off, the PC market is declining, so there aren't a load of new users coming along. Most of those new users have moved on to smart phones and tablets. Just us dinosaurs hanging on to our desktop machines. The number of desktop users that suddenly discover they need QD can probably be counted on one hand. Shoot - a work colleague of mine still uses Money and when was that killed?

Second, unless you are looking at a growth market (see above) the only funds available for bug fixes and new versions comes from current sales. This year, sales of 2013 QD will fund whatever bug fixes and improvements are planned for QD 2014. As much as you'd like Intuit to provide a bug free product, it just isn't going to happen and those fixes have to be paid for somehow.

Every year the number of boxed users keeps dropping (see the Forbes article that was posted here recently) which means there's less and less funding available. Fortunately, QD is a very mature product which means there isn't a huge demand for new features, hence sales can still generate a reasonable amount of revenue and keep a small team of bug fixers employed.

That's not going to last forever and I don't see a cloud based replacement with the features, security and flecibility that QD has. Shame.

I buy a new one every three years. Thats less the $20 per year for a piece of software that greatly improves my life. IMHO, it's a bargain at twice or even three times the price.

I guess I'm part of the problem. I'm still happily using Quicken Version 6 for Windows (circa 1996) with Windows 7 64 bit. I still use the DDE interface to populate an Excel spreadsheet automatically and they broke the DDE interface with Quicken 98. Then they removed it completely and denied it ever existed as a public interface even though my first Quicken for Windows had a sample included on the disk showing how to use the interface.

I've still got a few more years, Quicken Ver 6 only does dates up 'til

2027. If I move to Quicken 98 around then it will last until 2038 (which might be longer than I will last) with the upside that it still has a DDE interface albeit a broken one.

When I give up on the DDE interface I can move to Quicken 2002 and then Quicken 2009 - an upgrade path I've tested and works fine with my old files.

None of this sounds like much revenue in the future coming Intuit's way from me, sadly.

Robert Neville wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

What about the fees Intuit gets from the financial institute for use of their intellectual material for either of One Step Updates or Web updates? I thinlk that has changed maybe once or twice in the last fwe years? We don't see too many bugs, or there would be more OSU gripes from the group. I am led to believe this is an expensive proposition for the FI's, from the ones who don't offer to the ones who charge the user for it.

John Carter

Every 3 years for Quicken and every 17 years for my Camry. This thinking allowed me to retire from full-time work at the age of 42 but, hell, if people want to die still working as wage-slaves....