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QuickBooks Pro 4.0 for Macintosh

QuickBooks Pro 4.0 for Macintosh

List Price: $199.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Reasons not to buy a Mac
Review: A "friend" persuaded me to buy an iMac last year. "You will love how much easier it is to use than that Windows junk you're used to." Since the price of an iMac was reasonable, I decided to take a chance.

When I bought and installed QuickBooks Pro 4.0, I very quickly learned why Apple is failing.

The Windows 95/98 version of QuickBooks Pro 99 can do anything. I have been using Intuit products since 1990, and have been spoiled by the way such a simple program can handle complicated transactions along with daily business. (When I worked for an SAP consulting firm, the managing partner said he was afraid to make us implement SAP R/3, because QuickBooks performed circles around that million dollar software!)

But when you install QuickBooks on your Mac, you return to the stone ages. QuickBooks for DOS systems could do more.

I called Intuit's customer support (where I tend to get excellent treatment, because I've used the product for so long -- one of my solutions is posted to their techie's help manual) to complain. The techie was very nice and very frank. I should not expect an upgrade of QuickBooks for the Mac any time soon, because the market was not strong enough.

And while Microsoft enables you to transfer QuickBooks data from the Mac platform to Windows 98, the Mac OS will not permit a transfer in this direction. I therefore spent a week of very valuable time re-entering data and setting up the company file.

A shame that Mac-only users will never get to know how good this software really is.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Reasons not to buy a Mac
Review: A "friend" persuaded me to buy an iMac last year. "You will love how much easier it is to use than that Windows junk you're used to." Since the price of an iMac was reasonable, I decided to take a chance.

When I bought and installed QuickBooks Pro 4.0, I very quickly learned why Apple is failing.

The Windows 95/98 version of QuickBooks Pro 99 can do anything. I have been using Intuit products since 1990, and have been spoiled by the way such a simple program can handle complicated transactions along with daily business. (When I worked for an SAP consulting firm, the managing partner said he was afraid to make us implement SAP R/3, because QuickBooks performed circles around that million dollar software!)

But when you install QuickBooks on your Mac, you return to the stone ages. QuickBooks for DOS systems could do more.

I called Intuit's customer support (where I tend to get excellent treatment, because I've used the product for so long -- one of my solutions is posted to their techie's help manual) to complain. The techie was very nice and very frank. I should not expect an upgrade of QuickBooks for the Mac any time soon, because the market was not strong enough.

And while Microsoft enables you to transfer QuickBooks data from the Mac platform to Windows 98, the Mac OS will not permit a transfer in this direction. I therefore spent a week of very valuable time re-entering data and setting up the company file.

A shame that Mac-only users will never get to know how good this software really is.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Still Lacking
Review: I wanted software to run my business that would be simple to use without an accounting background, as I understood this to be. I was totally misled when I found that conversion from later versions of Quicken were impossible and had to manually enter every transaction. Not only did I have to hire an accountant to assist with Quickbooks Pro 4.0 set-up, but even she had trouble classifying information. There are still some unresolved issues in the set-up procedure. I have listed my personal opinion on the following:

Negatives:

1. Sorting reports can not be done by "Memo".

2. When printing checks, you must manually count how many you are about to print and they still can't be sorted alphabetically. This is crazy!

3. Customer support leaves you on hold forever.

4. Customizing invoices is ridiculously limited.

5. No calendar window.

Positives:

1. Report formatting is effortless.

2. Entering data is as easy as in Quicken.

3. "Find" is more extensive and one of its better features.

4. Being able to print business forms is wonderful.

5. Memorized transactions function is efficient and very useful.

I have tried 3 business accounting programs and I do think that this could be one of the better programs for small businesses even though it falls short in improving on the simplest enigmas. Intuit claims this to be easy to use, which I tend to disagree with. If Intuit would improve their customer support lines and email feedback and also correct the basic problems listed above, I feel they would have a superlative accounting software program.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Still Lacking
Review: I wanted software to run my business that would be simple to use without an accounting background, as I understood this to be. I was totally misled when I found that conversion from later versions of Quicken were impossible and had to manually enter every transaction. Not only did I have to hire an accountant to assist with Quickbooks Pro 4.0 set-up, but even she had trouble classifying information. There are still some unresolved issues in the set-up procedure. I have listed my personal opinion on the following:

Negatives:

1. Sorting reports can not be done by "Memo".

2. When printing checks, you must manually count how many you are about to print and they still can't be sorted alphabetically. This is crazy!

3. Customer support leaves you on hold forever.

4. Customizing invoices is ridiculously limited.

5. No calendar window.

Positives:

1. Report formatting is effortless.

2. Entering data is as easy as in Quicken.

3. "Find" is more extensive and one of its better features.

4. Being able to print business forms is wonderful.

5. Memorized transactions function is efficient and very useful.

I have tried 3 business accounting programs and I do think that this could be one of the better programs for small businesses even though it falls short in improving on the simplest enigmas. Intuit claims this to be easy to use, which I tend to disagree with. If Intuit would improve their customer support lines and email feedback and also correct the basic problems listed above, I feel they would have a superlative accounting software program.


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