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Effects of subscription change on my Quicken relationship

skeleton567

I have used Quicken since 1986. I don't recall the version I began with, but I think it was on 3.5" floppy disks. Over the years I did purchase newer versions. I checked this morning on my archived Quicken Windows versions, and see that I still have installs for these oldest versions saved:

Vers. 6 Windows 95/3.1 (1996)
Deluxe 1999 Windows 95/98, NT4
Deluxe 2000 Windows
Deluxe 2006 Windows
Premier 2009 Windows
Premier 2009 Ugrade Windows
Premier 2011 Windows
Premier 2014 Windows

This would appear to indicate that I paid for at least seven versions that I have archived, with no record of the earlier versions I purchased.

Now, I am still on version QW2014 Premier, indicating that I have NEVER purchased a subscription.

In 1999 I took a position in IT on a project to upload/download national account billing data from a nationwide network of servers for a corporate entity. The process used, called 'replication', uploaded and downloaded account/pricing/billing data multiple times daily.

First, if there was a connection or updating failure, it had to be fixed immediately, not referred for review.

Second, the stability did not depend on the remote server, but on our DBA's and developers to be fixed immediately. We did not go home or even go to lunch until the issue was corrected.

Someone please explain how the changing Quicken for the subscription model has been a good financial decision for the owners.

I was a faithful user paying for upgrades as released, but have not paid them anything in the last twelve years. My version is stable and dependable. I do not depend on downloads, technical support persons, new releases, or anything connected to the owning company. I can update my data as I desire when I desire. My data is complete as far back as some investments that began in 1944 which I have converted to digital records.

I think depending on downloads from financial institutions is a huge source of discontent and frustration for many of today's users. Maybe you all should rethink your dependance on downloads simply to relieve the pressure. Quicken was originally a very good product, but it seems to have degraded and decayed over the years in favor of making money for the owners.

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Comments

NotACPA

Paying for a subscription provides:

Support from Q itself, vs this forum which is user-supported
Download of program updates to provide enhanced features
Download of program updates to fix bugs
Downloads of transactions, and investment quotes, from your financial institutions. On more than 1 occasion this has notified bhttps://community.quicken.com/discussion/7878420/transfers-from-one-account-to-another-with-split-transactions me of fraudulent transactions in my card accounts WELL before I got my statement.

It's reasonable to assume that at some point in the future you're going to upgrade to an operating system that can't run Q2014. You won't be able, at that time, to install Q2014 on the newer OS because Q/Intuit's verification servers for that product were disabled a long time ago.

And, if Q isn't profitable as a product, it will be ended. How does that benefit anyone?

skeleton567

Nota, I think I'm fairly solid with my setup.

I haven't needed Q support in years. I just enjoy the entertainment seeing all the reported problems.

I'm pretty confident in the features I have and have used for 12 years now. It has handled all my banking, credit and debit cards, mortgages, RE assets, IRAs, 401ks, regular investments, 529 plans for five grandchildren. My current file includes data for a total of 56 accounts.

I even still have the QW2014 patch release from 2019, and have not found any bugs since then in my use.

I never download transactions from anywhere. I prefer my own entry which reviews each transaction. I keep my registers up to date several times a week. I don't download prices.

I get automated notifications when my debit and credit cards are used. I can log in to my credit union, credit card provider, and my investment accounts from my computer or telephone.

I have no problem with keeping a system that will run QW2014. Our active machines right now are Win 10 and Win 11. I have seven computers in my home office (no, that is not correct. I forgot about four more retired laptops in the closet ) and have verified I can install and run QW2014 on at least two machines right now without any network connection being required. (Win 7 and Win 10). I just retired my last Win XP machine last winter, but can still reinstall if wanted, so I don't worry about OS updates. I currently have two desktop towers under my desk ready to be rebuilt with any Windows and Quicken version I may want.

I'm 83 years old and have 57 years of experience designing and developing computer systems, and was a database administrator for years before I retired. I have developed a process to export my Quicken data from all of my annual files into a SQL Server relational database on which I have designed processes to review, modify, and analyze my data. In fact, I have used this process to make many adjustments and modifications to my historical Q data and then exported it BACK to my Quicken files as I have found things I wanted to improve in all the files. (Yes, you CAN export and import investment transactions if you understand the QIF file format.)

I do have a copy of QW2017 just in case. And that reminds me I should look for patch versions for that also.

So with all of this, I don't really depend on the company to exist. And I don't like to be bullied.