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 - Stick with Quicken 2007As a long time Quicken user who upgrades to the latest release nearly every year I approached the 2008 version with great expectations. Integration with Paypal & personal cash flow tab amongst other touted enhancements. First off, let me say that I have been using this software for nearly 3 months. I am up to Release 5. I would classify the problems with the 2008 version as follows: 1) Performance problems 2) Download woes 3) Data integrity /bugs 1) Performance problems - the program will go into spasms when trying to do anything as complex as adding a single transaction to the register. It will blink, sometimes for as long as 30 secs, before adding the transaction & returning control of the program to you. It is so slooooooooow that it can literally drive you crazy, that is if the flashing spasms of the program haven't sent you into epileptic shock first. 2)Download woes - Paypal integration? Not if you use their security dongle. Other downloads fail routinely with HSBC about 50% of the time due to "Quicken server issues" & with other financial institutions about 5-10% of the time. Much higher than I experienced with Quicken 2007. On the plus side I am now downloading from Janus, but that may have been possible in the 2007 version as well and I didn't realize it. 3)Data integrity & bugs - I'll only report my most frustrating here and that is in the tax planner. Enter a number manually & magically it disappears & defaults back to a Quicken estimate. After much trial & error I found a workaround - you need to exit the planner after entering a manual number, then re-launch it for that number to "stick". Totally unacceptable & unbelievable that in 5 releases it's still not fixed. This stands in stark contrast to Intuit's arguably greatest software achievement ever - Turbotax 2007 - this years edition is the most perfect, elegant combination of interface simplicity, intuitiveness & functionality I have ever experienced in a software product. Note to Intuit - no more enhancements needed - it's perfect! Just repeat next year & the year after please. Can't the Quicken team borrow a few of the Turbotax programmers to fix this Quicken baby? If you are running an older version of Quicken this may be worth the upgrade in order to get the cumulative enhancements made over the years. But for Quicken 2007 users who are satisfied, since there is no apparent way to revert your Quicken 2008 files back to 2007 format, upgrade at your own risk! Rating:  - It earns me money every month, but may cost jobs at the mallI blew money out the door for so long, I accepted it was the nature of personal finances. Balancing a check book was impossible with that little paper register the bank gives you. Things are just too complicated in real life to cram into those tiny blocks. This Quicken software made me money from the first month I used it, even though the paper checkbook experience had me in a skeptical mood to begin with putting it mildly. I like having all these options and categories, and the ability to split expenses (thats right, when I go to the gas station sometimes I buy more than just gas, can you believe it? But I still want to know how much Im spending on just gas). What else, ok I owe a little to my parents, ok a lot really, and I pay it back in complicated ways, per how life is. Sometimes I buy something they need like more memory for their computer, or a flat screen tv, or car tires. In Quicken I make an account that is what I owe them, and every thing I do toward paying it off I deduct by having a simple transfer category. For the car tires tag them with my transfer category, and it credits that account for me, reducing what I owe. I use the same trick on my online saving account, the one I keep extra money in, and its not connected to my debit card or part of my normal bank to protect it from my splurges. I back up my computer, for this and my other stuff on my computer, that you should do like checking your oil, brushing your teeth, washing behind ears, and so on, so accidents are minimized, and Ive had a few but not with Quicken though it wouldnt matter anyway. If you havent learned to backup maybe not a good idea to use a computer for much beyond surfing and email. Otherwise give it a whirl. According to this software I will me a multimillionaire by 2099 ^.^, but they may have to layoff at the mall(:D Rating: - Best value for moneyBest value for money and ease of use financial software ever. Have used this software for about 15 years now. Rating: - Thanks I needed the reviews to make a decisionI have been debating about upgrading from Quicken Home and Business 2006 to 2008 and it looks like I will be waiting for a more stable product. I use Vista which is already a little squirrely and applying an unstable release of vital software on top of it at the beginning of tax season sounds like a suicide mission. Even Intuit's own web user postings are scary. Thanks to all who are beta testing for the rest of us. We feel your pain and appreciate your sacrifice. Rating: - Did anyone test this software?What serious and professional company would release software that has not been tested to run correctly when you have a Mircosoft Brand mouse? If you use a recent microsoft mouse and have Intellipoint drivers installed, Quickbook 2008 will exhibit screen flickering that will make it impossible to use. Intuit has been aware of these problems on their forums for months.
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