[Macworld]

Post your comments for Review: QuickBooks Accounting 2009 here

[craigcurtis]

i can live without multi-user and credit card processing, but after having issues with doing the "round trip" to windows for my accountant and back, that is a little bit of a deal breaker for me (I am using the windows version now). Plus the one tiny thing that I use on a daily basis is the window's version TIMER (its a simple thing, but its the easiest way to keep track of time on a job). I don't know why intuit can't implement this tiny function. I'd love to switch back to the Mac version.

[traildog]

Thank you for the review... Well, it sounds somewhat promising. My business has depended on QB (Windows) for well over a decade, and I am chomping at the bit to switch to a solid Mac version. I wonder how easily and completely data files will be transfered to this Mac version from QB Windows, and which versions are supported for import. Also, I have concerns that switching might make a mess for our accountant as far as reading and writing to Accountant's Copies. Shall go to the Intuit web site to read their claims.

[craigcurtis]

as far as I know, intuit doesn't really show the process of mac - windows - mac on their website until you check in the support section. If you are using the Mac version, you have to export a complete backup file to the windows version. Then the windows machine (accountant or whatever) has to import the data. Once they are done, they have to export it a certain way (I can't remember if there is a mac option export, but this is where the accountant has to know what they are doing sort of). Then the Mac version has to reload the whole company file from that backup. Not exactly an elegant way to do things. I think there are some things that are lost in the translation, but I'm not sure what they are. And there is no "accountants copy" in the mac version like there is in the windows version (where you can send the accountant a subset of the data so they can work and then you only import the changes they make).

At least the new mac version is starting to catch up to the windows version, even though I doubt there will be parity. It really sucks, because it is the only thing that I even use the PC for!

[davebarnes]

Aah, the QBTimer. A wonderful little feature of the Windows version of QuickBooks.
And, missing for the Mac version. The inability of Intuit to implement the timer is/has been highly annoying.
I really wanted to leave WIndows behind so I switched to QB Mac 2007 and now use OfficeTime for my timer. I love OfficeTime, but hate having to enter all the data manually into QuickBooks. Thankfully, my business partner (wife) is a great typist.
Sometimes I think that Intuit just wants to piss off mac users.

[ayoung]

As usual a Intuit disappoints me, no Multi-User and no Cross Platform file structure. I am convinced they have their own plans and care little about what their clients want. They have a plan to have you upgrade yearly with little or no changes.
This may sound a little bitter but because we need multi-user we run on the PC for accounting. The problem with Quickbooks is we have used it for so many years and switching to another program would require training everyone including my CPA. Which costs me money and time but maybe after years of disappointing products from Intuit I should learn my lesson and change!

[tomburton56]

Thanks for the review! I would buy this rather resistable update if it improved the synching with Address Book. Quickbooks Pro 2007 plagues me with spontaneous alterations to entries (such as hosing an address) and sudden rejection of a previously matching contact as "duplicate". I have a graveyard of customers and vendors that I was forced to rename to avoid this silly issue. It's so bad that I've turned off synching with address book. Does anyone reading this also suffer from this? If so, do you have reason to think that Quickbooks 2009 is better?

[akulavolk]

I have to run the Windows version in Parallels because the Mac QuickBooks still doesn't support inventory, credit card/merchant services, shipping plugins, and a handful of other features that Intuit (for some reason) thinks aren't important to Mac users. Inventory seems a basic need for tons of industries. And being able to capture funds and ship right from the program are key, too.
Unfortunately, with Windows comes extra maintenance headaches, security issues and incompatibility with Mac-based data (iPhone, .Mac/.Me, Address Book, Calendar, mail merge in iWork or Mac Office, etc.). Intuit, you'd have a few extra seats of QuickBooks Mac if you'd only keep feature parity with Windows. For now, we're limiting our office to one PC...and only one QuickBooks license.

[fletc3her]

I am glad that QuickBooks is supporting the Mac again and almost feel that I should buy the update just to support that effort. But, I can't really see anything in this release which is compelling. Plus, they don't seem to be offering any sort of discount to existing customers. It looks like the upgrade price is the same as the purchase price. On the Windows side they at least offer a small discounter for upgrades. I might wait for QuickBooks 2011.

[elitabak]

Customer synching was and still is useless for the reason you have specified. QB assigns work phone to the first one even if it's home. I also turned this feature off and enter each customer twice as my address book data is more complete.
I bought QB 2009 the day it was released. I was not able to register it due to a bug and after spending 4 hours with India on the phone, I returned it. Another issue that I had was recording transaction, an invoice for example, took 20-50 seconds. Unacceptable. I wonder how come there is no performance mention in the review.

QB for Mac is still a few years behind the Windows version and it is not closing the gap.

I'm shopping around for another solution and on 12/31/08 it's goodbye QB.

[elitabak]

QB for Mac does support inventory.

[akulavolk]

I should specify..."Inventory Assemblies"

[jragosta]

Why do they even bother with the Mac version if you can't use it in a multiuser environment or share files with Windows? As always, Intuit can't write a decent Mac app if their life depends on it. For example, Mac Quicken is still missing key features compared to the Windows version - after years and years and years.
Of course, maybe it's not just Mac software that Intuit can't write. I bought Quickbooks Point of Sale (the initials POS are quite appropriate) and it wouldn't run on our brand new Vista computers. Their tech support had me doing everything but a rain dance (they actually suggested stuff that was almost as silly before I gave up on them and figured out the problem on my own). Even after we got it running, it was a nightmare. For example, it is impossible to move the data file from one server to another without uninstalling the software on all the computers and reinstalling (according to their tech support - again, I found a way around it).
It's a shame they're unwilling to spend any money either on programmers or tech support.

[motmin]

My comment is simple, QuickBooks 2009 for the Mac still sucks. This new version takes minutes to record a newly created invoice and even longer if you change an existing one. The spinning beach ball of death spins away. Another long time gripe I have with all versions of QuickBooks is that there is no convenient way to search for items you have in stock. With this "new" version you can at least search by item number, but what happens if you don't remember what the item number was? It is plain to see that this program was NOT written by small business owners or anyone that had spoken to small business owners.