Quicken Deluxe 2006 (Mac) review:4 stars (Another small set of improvements) - Of late I have been skipping years between Mac Quicken upgrades, and even doing that, find relatively little changed each time. Perhaps that is why Intuit is happy to force stragglers forward by restricting online banking features to recent releases (although as software developer myself, I do understand the support and maintenance arguments as well). The 2006 release continues in this vein, but I do feel it was a worthwhile investment on its own merits.
My credit union has paid the "Mac tax" Intuit requires in order for their online banking features to interoperate with Quicken, so I am lucky enough to be able to use them. And they work very well. The one-step-update and downloaded transaction windows look nicer and are more responsive compared to the 2004 version, and have some useful new features. For example, the downloaded transactions window's dropdown menu for choosing an online account now provides a visual indication of which accounts contain new transactions. This saves a lot of time in conjunction with one-step updates.
The new flexibility in scheduling calendar-based transactions is useful too. There were things (like my direct-deposit paychecks) which previously couldn't automatically be assigned the right dates. Now they can, and it was easy to fix them.
I'm less impressed with the much hyped "backup to .Mac" feature, however. It's perhaps helpful for people who lack a backup strategy for all their important documents (such as the Backup program which comes with .Mac), but it pales by comparison with what it could and should be: Quicken should take advantage of the Sync Services offered by Tiger and .Mac to let you synchronize your Quicken accounts between multiple computers. I should not have to care whether I'm on my PowerBook at work or my PowerMac at home; transactions I enter in either place should appear on the other. Instead, I can only run Quicken at home and sync with Pocket Quicken on my Treo. (If it weren't for Landware's awesome Pocket Quicken, I would find this limitation even more irksome; Intuit is lucky a third party helped fill this gap, but it makes it even more clear they should be able to do this themselves.)
So, in summary, not a world-altering upgrade, but solid progress on an application I continue to find useful and mostly friendly, with a few quirks and limitations that don't detract from my enjoyment of using it to help manage my finances and pay my bills.1 stars (Not even close to the PC version) - After 5 years of using Quicken for PC, I made the switch. Here are some highlights of my experience so far.
1. You never have to shut the program down. It will crash every time.
2. Inflexible online options. Quicken for PC was reaching the point where all of your transactions could be downloaded by the touch of one button. Quicken for MAC makes you go to each financial institution and export your transactions, many of which are incompatible with the Tiger OS (so they must be put in manually). Also, I have some accounts that used to work with the online update that no longer work, and no amount of editing options will correct it. Instead, Quicken tries to make up new accounts and the result is a loss of several years of transactions. Very frustrating to say the least.
3. The "Planning" area from Quicken 2005 does not exist in this version. The planning function is a basic calculator that is substandard to entering in information on money.com.
4. The interface is unintuitive and unimpressive.
5. Multiple errors between account values displayed in the overview and account values displayed in detailed account view. Many of them in the overview are zero'd out after moving data from PC to MAC.
Conclusion: Quicken software has not really made the switch to MAC. This program is a cursory attempt to lull business-minded PC owners over to the other side with peace of mind that never materializes. 4 stars (Quicken Deluxe 2006 for Mac is a great product.) - I love this product! Works well with my various financial institutions. I am able to track my spending and include other important personal information in the program. It is easy to use and is great for anyone that is just starting out on their own and wishes to plan for the future.
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