What's "new and improved" in Quicken online?

Steve Brenessel

I've been using Quicken since it was a DOS program. After being forced to upgrade from Quicken 2017 on May 1, or lose downloading ability for bank transactions, I'm $79 poorer, per year, and I see that ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IS DIFFERENT. What a freaking ripoff.

Quicken_Julio

Hi @Steve Brenessel,

Thanks for taking the time to post to our Community.

To get a better understanding of the "why" behind the new Quicken subscription plan, please take a few minutes to read our CEO Eric Dunn's Letter to our Quicken Community.

NotACPA

@Steve Brenessel  What does your title (specifically "Quicken online") have to do with the body of your message?

The online functions of Q are optional, and still require the use of the desktop product. 

And, there's no such thing, per se, as "Quicken online".  There's the "Quicken Mobile App" and "Quicken on the Web", but they're FAR from being full-fledged Quicken.

Steve Brenessel

If I offended you by calling Quicken by the wrong name I'm truly sorry.
I'm going to read CEO Eric Dunn's Letter to our Quicken Community, as requested by Julio. But since I don't use Quicken to import stock portfolios and other things I don't expect much enlightenment.

And I'm going to stand on what I said. When Intuit owned Quicken it was re-released every few years, mostly whether it need to be or not. When profits became more important than anything else the releases became annual. I could ignore them because at least five years would pass before a meaningful release would be offered. (I was using Quicken 2007 until 2017 came along.) I use Quicken to keep my checking accounts and I download via a single file every month. I'm perfectly happy.

Now that the new norm in America is "rented software", made famous by Microsoft, Adobe, and now everyone else, I see it as modern day slavery. FYI, if you care, I use Microsoft Office 2010 which I upgraded to from 2007. There are no meaningful improvements in it, and when I looked at Office 365 I KNEW there were no meaningful improvements in it, and absolutely nothing worth subscribing to 365 for.
Back to Quicken, I'm happy with release 2017, but now, if I want to be able to download my data from the bank I have to go to Quicken (whatever the new name) and forever pay annual dues. I think this is criminal, but of course it's utterly legal because when a company with the financial power to take over the only decent computer check register software and thereby dictate to its users what the terms of their use of it are, the users have two choices, give up the convenience of the program or pay an annual fee for nothing additional.

To set the record straight, I would be willing to pay $15 a year for downloading, if this is even justified. To wit, it is not. The bank is still offering the sending half of the transfer, but Quicken is simply blocking the receipt on my end unless I pay the annual ransom.

If Quicken was going to improve the program every few years, yes, I would buy it. But "rent-a-software" is an unethical ripoff, and I stand by my comment.