Quicken for Mac = SUCKS! (Letter to Intuit & Apple)

[MacVault]

Dear Intuit / Apple / Steve Jobs,



I have always felt a sense of deficiency with Quicken for Mac OS X. But today when I installed Quicken Premier 2006 on my Windows XP machine at work I knew exactly how big of a deficiency I was dealing with on the Mac. It's a HUGE difference! On the Windows version the UI is smoothe like polished glass and the features are abundant. The Mac version is a totally different story.

I am insulted that Intuit would think the features of the Mac version would satisfy a Mac user. I mean, compared to the Windows version... the user interface absolutely SUCKS ont he Mac version, the number of financial institutions for online/Direct Connect SUCKS, and the features totally SUCK! I mean, the biggest feature you guys touted when Quicken for Mac 2006 came out was that now I can put photos of my furniture in my PFM. Ooooh, Ahhhhh! WTF! Seems like I should at least be able to attach check/receipt images to my cash flow transactions, as is possible in the Windows version - just to name one feature I sorely miss.

Today I read somewhere that Steve Jobs is actually on Intuit's board. WTF! What's wrong with you, Steve? Either get off the board and have Apple make the world's finest PFM for Mac, or tell Intuit to get the Mac version up to speed! And we don't want a virtualized version running in XP on top of OS X. We want a NATIVE OS X PFM app - feature-for-feature comparable with the Windows version, and with all the same financial institutions listed for online connectivity! Come on people! Get with the party! I'm disgusted with Mac programs always being left behind the Windows feature sets, UI, etc. What gives?!?!

Thanks,

Macvault

[BornAgainMac]

You hate Quicken 2006? You should have seen Quicken 2004! I switched to Microsoft Money for Windows after using Quicken for the Mac. I did try the Windows version a few years ago and I agree what you said. I bought Microsoft Money before looking at the Windows version of Quicken. I thought the Windows version of Quicken was as bad as the Mac version.

The funniest thing of Quicken that I used for the Mac was some of the buttons that you would expect to bring you to other parts of the program would just be simple web links hosted by Intuit.

[nutmac]

Yes, Quicken for Mac is so much more deficient than Quicken for Windows that it's not even funny. For crying out loud, no E*TRADE among financial institutions?

I suppose I should be thankful that the version exists at all, but given how TurboTax for Mac is much closer to feature parity with the Windows version, it is disappointing that Quicken for Mac feels more like Quicken for Windows 1998 than 2006 edition.

I think all Steve Jobs-Bill Campbell (former CEO of Intuit) tie buys us is free Quicken/QuickBook with a purchase of new Mac, along with reassurance that Intuit will continue to "maintain" Mac development.

[MacVault]

Someone suggested to me MYOB, but it's geared more toward business, right? Anyone using MYOB as a PFM? Something tells me it's not really what I'm looking for.

[grapes911]

Quicken for Windows has more options than Quicken for Mac, no doubt about it. But I would not call Q4Mac a bad program. It does everything I need. No complaints here.

[bousozoku]

Originally Posted by MacVault

Someone suggested to me MYOB, but it's geared more toward business, right? Anyone using MYOB as a PFM? Something tells me it's not really what I'm looking for.

MYOB doesn't have any personal products, though their business account application is quite good.

I'm of the opinion that it would be good for most people just to use a free, open source application customised for Mac OS X. Intuit hasn't made good Mac software for a while and insults Mac users in other ways.

[vansouza]

Any comments on tax programs for the Mac? Or do I need to save my winxp box for that ? Thanks...

[bousozoku]

Originally Posted by vansouza

Any comments on tax programs for the Mac? Or do I need to save my winxp box for that ? Thanks...

I used TaxCut online this year since they didn't create a new version for 2005 taxes. The Mac version of TurboTax is cut down from the Windows version but apparently works still.

[nutmac]

Originally Posted by vansouza

Any comments on tax programs for the Mac? Or do I need to save my winxp box for that ? Thanks...

TurboTax is actually very very good, with close enough feature parity against the PC version (I've tried both, as the CD contains both Windows and Mac versions).

[zweigand]

Originally Posted by BornAgainMac

You hate Quicken 2006? You should have seen Quicken 2004!

I'm using Quicken 2004 at the moment ...so when I get my new iMac later this year you are saying I will be pleasantly surprised?

So when do Quicken releases usually come out? When should I expect to see 07?

[zweigand]

Originally Posted by vansouza

Any comments on tax programs for the Mac? Or do I need to save my winxp box for that ? Thanks...

I also used HR Block's "Tax Cut" online service this year and got everything done for free. As good as my experience with that was, I can't imagine actually spending money for a copy of TurboTax.

[bigboy99]

Quicken for Mac kept me from buying a PBG4 for many months. Finally, I jumped to Mac, bought Virtual PC and ran the Quicken Windows version along side the Mac version until I was comfortable with the Mac version. For my needs (bank accounts and credit cards) it's worked out okay. I understand the securities features aren't up to the Windows version, though.

The nightmare was exporting the Windows data to the Mac version. I finally had to go with only a couple of years of archives because the exported file wouldn't include all of my data. It took about 20 hours to make sure everything was to the penny in four bank accounts and four credit card accounts.

I've tried iBank, and Moneydance, two Mac-only personal financial programs, and while I'm still using Q 2005 for Mac I would rate Moneydance as the app that's closer to being bug free and ready to take on Intuit. It's available in OS X, Linux and Windows. iBank was a still too quirky the last time I gave it a try.

I don't regret the switch at all. Q 2005 for Mac is a small price to pay to be rid XP Pro/Dell. I used to spend half my time repairing the registry, and scanning for unwanted files, etc.

Now get with it, Steve!

[nutmac]

Originally Posted by zweigand

I'm using Quicken 2004 at the moment ...so when I get my new iMac later this year you are saying I will be pleasantly surprised?

So when do Quicken releases usually come out? When should I expect to see 07?

New version of Quicken usually ships around late summer (around July if I recall). Quicken 2007 for Mac is about to enter private beta testing.

As for 2004 vs. 2006, there are enough improvements here and there but none that I would categorize as super dramatic.

[kjr39]

I hated used Quicken 2006 for the mac. Hated it! Would not use it or recommend it!

Switched to Moneydance about a month ago and am happy. Works great.

[MacVault]

I recently emailed Intuit CEO, Steve Bennett explaining my frustration with Quicken for OS X. Below is my email to him as well as his (brief) reply. Just thought I'd share it for anyone interested. Anyone want to interpret this for us?:

--- "Bennett, Steve" <Steve_Bennett@intuit.com> wrote:

> Zach,
> Thanks for sharing your frustration... We are taking
> a hard look at what we
> want to do in the future with this product... Steve
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Zach
> Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 4:41 PM
> To: Cook, Scott; Campbell, Bill; Bennett, Steve
> Subject: Quicken for Mac
>
> Dear Steve Bennett, Scott Cook, and Bill Campbell,
>
> How long are you going to insult us Mac users,
> thinking we'll be satisfied
> with a piece of crap personal finance manager? I use
> Quicken for Mac only
> because there's really no other option on the Mac.
> The other day I tried
> Quicken 2006 Premier on Windows, and oh man, what a
> difference. Smooth
> interface, features galore, more financial
> institutions, ability to save
> receipts/images to transactions, etc.
>
> If you're not going to give us everything the
> Windows version has, AND make
> it so all financial institutions support both
> windows and mac without having
> to pay extra or do extra work to implement it, then
> don't even bother
> supporting Mac at all. Your Mac software is a TOTAL
> DISGRACE! I remember
> when you came out with Quicken 2006 and the most
> highly touted feature was
> the ability to store pictures of my furniture in
> Quicken. HaHaHaaaa, what a
> frickin joke!
>
> I wish Microsoft would make MS Money for OS X -
> unless they do as poorly of
> a job as Intuit does. Intuit needs some competition
> in the Mac world. Right
> now Intuit has a monopoly on the Mac PFM market, and
> this is why Intuit has
> no reason to strive to make a goof PFM for the Mac
> OS X platform.
>
> And, to top it off, rumor has it that your next
> version, Quicken 2007 for
> Mac will not be a Universal Binary, but rather
> native only on the PPC
> processor and not native to the new Intel processor.
> This is total CRAP! Why
> can't you bring us a great, intel-ready, fully
> featured PFM for Mac?
>
> And I'm not the only one extremely dissatisfied with
> your OS X support.
> Check out the following forum threads....
>
>
> http://www.thinksecret.com/comments/0605quicken.shtml
>
>
> http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=194702
>
> Regards,
>
> Zach

[grapes911]

What type of response did you expect? Hell, at least you got a response at all.

[MacVault]

Originally Posted by grapes911

What type of response did you expect? Hell, at least you got a response at all.

I didn't mean to imply I was unsatisfied with Steve Bennett's response, because, heck yea.. I was shocked I got a personal reply from Intuit's CEO at all. I just wonder what his response means.. my first thought was it sounds like they might just terminate Mac support all together.

[IJ Reilly]

Originally Posted by MacVault

I didn't mean to imply I was unsatisfied with Steve Bennett's response, because, heck yea.. I was shocked I got a personal reply from Intuit's CEO at all. I just wonder what his response means.. my first thought was it sounds like they might just terminate Mac support all together.

That's how I read it. You know, these Mac users, they complain too much.

[southerndoc]

Originally Posted by IJ Reilly

That's how I read it. You know, these Mac users, they complain too much.

I would rather see Microsoft Money for Mac as opposed to an updated Quicken for Mac.

Email Mactopia (mactopia@microsoft.com) requesting Money for Mac. Money is a much better program.

Quicken for Mac would actually be an ok program if it allowed the same number of direct connects as the Windows version. Why must Intuit use two different format standards for this? Financial institutions must pay large fees to allow their customers to download information in these formats. Why should they support us Mac users when only 3% of the computer population are Mac users?

Quicken really needs to get its act together. I interpret the above response from Intuit's CEO as "we're either updating it substantially, or we're abandoning it altogether."

EDIT: I have started an online petition to try to get Money available for MacOS. The URL is: http://www.petitiononline.com/moneymac/petition.html (I'm hoping the mods will allow this.)

[NCBrew]

I am about to purchase Quicken for MAC 2007. I hope they corrected some of the problems you mention here. Did you ever get a reply from Quicken?

NC Brew

Originally Posted by MacVault

Dear Intuit / Apple / Steve Jobs,



I have always felt a sense of deficiency with Quicken for Mac OS X. But today when I installed Quicken Premier 2006 on my Windows XP machine at work I knew exactly how big of a deficiency I was dealing with on the Mac. It's a HUGE difference! On the Windows version the UI is smoothe like polished glass and the features are abundant. The Mac version is a totally different story.

I am insulted that Intuit would think the features of the Mac version would satisfy a Mac user. I mean, compared to the Windows version... the user interface absolutely SUCKS ont he Mac version, the number of financial institutions for online/Direct Connect SUCKS, and the features totally SUCK! I mean, the biggest feature you guys touted when Quicken for Mac 2006 came out was that now I can put photos of my furniture in my PFM. Ooooh, Ahhhhh! WTF! Seems like I should at least be able to attach check/receipt images to my cash flow transactions, as is possible in the Windows version - just to name one feature I sorely miss.

Today I read somewhere that Steve Jobs is actually on Intuit's board. WTF! What's wrong with you, Steve? Either get off the board and have Apple make the world's finest PFM for Mac, or tell Intuit to get the Mac version up to speed! And we don't want a virtualized version running in XP on top of OS X. We want a NATIVE OS X PFM app - feature-for-feature comparable with the Windows version, and with all the same financial institutions listed for online connectivity! Come on people! Get with the party! I'm disgusted with Mac programs always being left behind the Windows feature sets, UI, etc. What gives?!?!

Thanks,

Macvault