[Macworld]

Post your comments for Expo Notes: Intuit plans a rebuilt Quicken here

[AndrewRodney]

>So bid goodbye to Quicken, and say hell to Quicken Financial Life for Mac
Freudian slip? You may be correct here. That said, I've used Quicken since the late 1980's, it was a fantastic program. And while I update with every release (not because I want to, but to see if they fix the multiple bugs, often not) I really do want to see it regain its honor like the old days.
>So bid goodbye to Quicken, and say hell to Quicken Financial Life for Mac, which is slated for a fall 2008 release. Intuit was previewing the massively revamped Quicken at its Expo booth during last weeka??s trade show.
They were showing it at MacWorld but its not due until Fall? Man, that's a crazy way to develop software.

[flybynight]

Any word on QuickBooks '08? I thought they were releasing it soon, but I didn't hear any news out of MacWorld Expo about it.

[Philip Michaels]

AndrewRodney said:

>So bid goodbye to Quicken, and say hell to Quicken Financial Life for Mac

Freudian slip?

Unfortunate typo. Very unfortunate typo.

Quote

They were showing it at MacWorld but its not due until Fall? Man, that's a crazy way to develop software.

Well, they are essentially creating a new app. And it seems heavily dependent on Leopard, so the time lag is understandable.

And Intuit was showing a lot of things at Expo, including TurboTax and Quicken Online, so it's not as if the desktop version was the only thing left to show off.

[Philip Michaels]

flybynight said:

Any word on QuickBooks '08?

Quicken Financial Life for Mac is the next version of Quicken, and it's coming out in the fall. So there is no Quicken '08, in essence.

[jhmaughan]

He actually asked about QuickBOOKS :) Props for their work on the new Quicken and yes, a BIG request for a new QuickBooks!!!

[Philip Michaels]

jhmaughan said:

He actually asked about QuickBOOKS :)

So he did -- my apologies.

I mention QuickBooks in passing at the end of the blog post. It's also slated for a fall 2008 release; unlike Quicken, it won't be rewritten from the ground up.

If I can put on my speculation hat, traditionally Quicken has come out in the August-September time frame while QuickBooks comes out a little later in the fall. I wouldn't be surprised if that tradition continues.

[dbutenhof]

The earlier report from MACWORLD claimed that "Quicken Financial Life" would be only a "half-life" -- basic finance but no investment tracking capabilities. This would be really unfortunate because a large portion of whatever remaining Quicken for Mac users there might be (including me) won't be able to switch/("upgrade") even if we wanted to. So will the new program appear to start as a dismal failure and perhaps never even get finished?
And with this talk of "tags" and such... how compatible is "QFL" going to be with Quicken '07? Will it suck in enormous existing historical Quicken files that have been upgraded year by year for a decade? Or will it share some of the same enormous migration hurdles that have kept me from being able to practically jump ship to iBank or MoneyDance, or one of the (otherwise) increasingly viable competitors?

[aralim_1]

Tags to identify who is spending what in a given account / category? We've had that for years with classes, which I've used for a long time to identify things like gas spending and prescriptions based on who it's for (myself, wife, one of my kids). None of the other "new features" listed sound like real improvements either, just a new way to look at data that's already been available for years as a report or chart.

When I saw that Intuit was planning on a new version, what I was hoping for was the news that this new version would, at long last, have feature parity with the Windows version. That means all of the investing features present on Windows but not the Mac version. That means all of the account tracking features present on Windows but not the Mac version.

I'm sorry, but this sounds like a bunch of new window dressing to cover up the cracks in the foundation that people have been complaining about for years with Quicken. If it's going to be an Intel-native version (and from the sound of the article, only an Intel-native version, not a Universal Binary), then why don't they just take their Windows code base and migrate it to the Mac? Come on, Intuit!!! Give us the same stable and feature-rich version that Windows has enjoyed for years! Then you'll show us some real renewed commitment to the Mac platform.

- Joe -

[EmilSkoda]

I hope in the midst of all the cloud tags and cover flowing, it also does personal finance, with features like importing from Quicken and MS Money data, robust report generation, online banking, and 401k and general investment tracking.
(fingers crossed)
Until then, it's still MS Money 03 via Parallels...

[jbh001]

No mention of whether the file format will be cross-compatible with the Windows counterpart.
And if you think the Windows version is stable, just go to amazon.com and scan the negative reviews of Quicken 2008 (or Quicken 2007 for that matter).

[jbh001]

Regarding Quicken Online, this looks like Intuit's response to Yodlee MoneyCenter (yodlee.com) which is free.

[bastion]

aralim_1 said:

If it's going to be an Intel-native version (and from the sound of the article, only an Intel-native version, not a Universal Binary),

Whence comes that assumption?

Quote

then why don't they just take their Windows code base and migrate it to the Mac?

Um. Because compiling code written against the Windows API to make an app for a Mac isn't a realistic way to deploy a mainstream app? For 90% of software, the CPU is meaningless. Macs being Intel-based doesn't generally simplify the porting of Windows-hosted code.

[doglesby]

Any chance Quicken Financial Life for Mac will appear pre-installed on new Macs? That's the only way I ever update Quicken.