Monday, January 02, 2006

To Buy Or Not To Buy: QuickBooks Pro {Mac 2006}

This is a review/comment I provided on Amazon's comments page for Mac QuickBooks Pro 2006. Since one never knows if they will find something to complain about and not publish a comment, it is provided here to help potential buyers.

A Company Merely Coasting On It's Laurels,
January 1, 2006
Reviewer: Imran Anwar (Heron Pointe, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Some background will help you understand my rating and comment.

As a MacUser I have been a Quicken user since version 1 or so. Every upgrade has been money I spent hoping for better software, removal of older bugs, but that has never been the case. At the most basic level, what I have in my Quicken 2006 for Mac is the same use as I had in several years older versions --- while most of the bugs remain.

I purchased PeachTree Accounting 2006 from Office Max for $199 with a rebate of the same value, so basically Free. But, instead of just using that on a PC I figured I would still give Quicken/Intuit/Quickbooks another look before I open and install that PC software.

It was all very heartwarming to read some top guy's letter at their web site about how committed they are to the Mac, how his family of 5 have 5 Macs (Big deal. My family of one {happily single :-) } has 12 Macs, as older Macs tend to get assigned menial tasks (like fax, voicemail, Chess, kitchen internet access, etc.).

Yet, the features of the Mac version are clearly less than the PC versions. The company does not even have a proper navigable page for the product on their own web site. Several LEARN MORE links lead to non-existent / Not Found pages.

I still went ahead to the Pruchase area to see what Upgrade pricing may exist either as a competitive upgrade or version upgrade. A link on the Purchase page asks something like "What if I am upgrading?" . Click on that, a fancy little window pops up on your screen, and then nothing.

Viewing the source of that window page shows no text, and no visible links to even try to indirectly get the info. I tried 2 other browsers, just in case the problem was with Safari. No such luck. So I decided to waste my time and inform their webmaster but their Contact Us page is a jumble of links to everything but what I was seeking.

Based on how shoddy a job they do of presenting their own product for sale to potential buyers, I shudder to think what quality to expect from the product. I think I will just go ahead and install that free Peachtree 2006 product, which seems more feature rich than Quickbooks anyway.

I have used their 2005 version and it was OK, nothing to get excited about. So, the 3 star rating is given for at least having a product available on the Mac platform. Hope this helps you in buying (or not buying) Intuit products. Thanks.

Imran

2 comments:

IMRAN™ said...

Ah, Imran Farooq sahib, that is like someone who has driven a Ford all his life saying he probably wouldn't enjoy driving a Mercedes. That really is the difference between Macs and PCs. It's not about video and media, it's the whole user experience. Which is why Mac users tend to be so snobbish about it. :-)

Imran

Unknown said...

I know say that they have better performances but I have grown accustomed to the PC. I know that things like media and video are far superior on Macs. Plsvisit this , Quickbooks Customer Support Phone Number
Intuit Quickbooks support online