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Summary: Quicken 2003
Review: I did not purchase Quicken 2002. I figured I would wait for 2003, because it would surely be significantly better. But I keep hearing that it is trememdously commercial, constantly goading me to sign on to quicken products. Now, I hesitate to upgrade. I love the product. Wish I had bought stock in it years ago, but I don't want to be faced with a comercial bombardment. Why should I pay them to hit me with commercials all the time??? What should I do ?
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Summary: Downgrade?
Review: The failure to provide the continued use of CheckFree for bill paying negates all the other minor improvements over Quicken 2002. I have used CheckFree for many years and do not want to go through the process of converting to the flavor of the year bill paying method.
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Summary: Complicated User Interface and Horrible Customer Service
Review: I've used TurboTax for years, so I thought I would give Quicken 2003 a try. I bought it knowing that if I did not like it I could return it within 60 days for a full refund. Well, I did not like it; the user interface was very complicated and difficult to navigate (I am a technical writer by profession), so I decided to return it. After sending three requests (via their website) requesting a refund, each request resulted in an automated email stating that I would receive a response within 48 hours. A month later and still no responses, I contacted American Express and asked them to take care of it. When I finally did get a response from the company, they reimbursed me for the incorrect amount.I've since tried Microsoft Money 2003, and love it.
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Summary: A Definate Improvement
Review: After reading some of the reviews on this site, I was a little skeptical about updated from 2001 to 2003. I am glad I did. I find the improved layout is very easy to navigate and I do not notice all the ads that other people have complained about. I like the way they have organized the accounts in to categories. The reporting capabilities and the tax information are both improvements from my previous version. I am very pleased with the product. I have consistently updated the product every two years and I am not disappointed I continued with that pattern.
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Summary: Fantastic product, worth upgrading
Review: This is a fantastic product for managing your finances and getting a crystal clear picture of what you own, where your investments are headed and how different choices might affect your net worth. For users of previous versions of Quicken, you should consider upgrading if only for the improved interface, which is much cleaner and intuitive than earlier versions, particularly Quicken 2002. For those considering switching to Microsoft Money, I don't recommend it. Money is a slow, buggy mess and much harder to use than Quicken. Finally, those "ads" that bother some of the other users are small, unintrusive and easy to ignore. They also happen to be for other Quicken products and services that complement Quicken 2003 nicely and are worth a try.
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Summary: Much better than Quicken 2001, hardly better than 2002
Review: I just upgraded from Quicken 2001 and I can at least say this version is better. Yes, there are some ads that try to sell Intuit services, but they don't do anything more than take up some screen real estate on a few pages. I've seen Quicken 2002 and it appears that 2003 is a very minor upgrade. Is it worth the price? Probably not. Is it better than updating your check book manually? You betcha! I'd definitely recommend Quicken to anyone who doesn't have it already, but not to someone upgrading from Quicken 2002.
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Summary: Less flexibility, more advertisements...
Review: I've faithfully upgraded my Quicken software every year. I've got to say that this year's 2003 release is NOT one of the better upgrades. Quicken has dummed-down the product so much that it's lost a lot of its great layout flexibility. Worse - if you don't like strong-arm advertising tactics you may want to look elsewhere. Quicken 2003 is a lot easier to use, but it comes at a cost. Tasks/activities now open up in single pop-up windows (the browser type single window/navigation is gone). If you want to keep the pop-up task/activity around while you do something else, you have to first minimize it to get it out of the way (the task/activity is then stored at the bottom of the Quicken screen as a link). This is probably easier for your average user but makes more steps and is more cumbersome to experienced Quicken users. My least favorite change: You can't have Quicken "save" your current/favorite layout and open/launch Quicken to that same layout every time you start Quicken - instead, Quicken always goes back to the default layout on startup. Grrrr. Probably most disappointing is the way Quicken forces their services down your throat. On-screen advertisements are sure to annoy IMMEDIATELY (They can't be removed from the default home page, but you can make your own custom home page sans advertisement if you spend some time reading the manual). The toolbar is by default cluttered/littered with links to "Quicken Brokerage", "Quicken On the Web" and "Quicken Services". All are removable but it's annoying to even have to shut them off in the first place. If you want to use Quicken's on-line bill payment (via your own bank), get ready to be forcibly run through Quicken's registration program which basically makes you enroll in Quicken's own on-line services. The registration will hound you if you don't register, and once you do register Quicken insists that you upload your private bank account information (transactions et al) to their web server so you can "manage your accounts on-line" via the web (NO THANKS! I HAVE ENOUGH TROUBLE PROTECTING MY PRIVATE INFORMATION ON-LINE). Trying to figure out how to get through registration without uploading your checking and saving account transaction/history to Quicken's web site is not obvious (but it can be done). You can work around Quicken's strong arm registration tactics and get rid of most of the in-your-face advertising and up-selling, but it will take up a lot of your time and guarantees to annoy even the most patient. At the end of the day, with Quicken 2003, I can still do everything I could with Quicken 2002. Is it worth upgrading? I have not noticed anything (at all) that is new and useful. New users will find Quicken 2003 to be VERY easy to use. Old users will be a little frustrated by the loss of flexibility caused by this tradeoff. Everyone will be unhappy with Quicken's in-your face approach to getting you to use more of their "services". If you can be patient - it's still probably the best personal financial software available.
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Summary: OK, enough with the yearly versions
Review: Getting a little sick of this strategy. The level of advertising associated with you using this product should more than offset treating the yearly upgrades as simple updates instead of having to pay for a whole new version. It's a great product, but hindered by advertising overload and an overly ambitious sales program. You really don't need this version, 2002 works fine. (As does 2001, 2000, etc....). I could see spending [money] if you own the previous year's version, but this is ridiculous.
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Summary: Pretty - but that's it
Review: Intuit did redesgn the interface. Very nice looking and a more comtemporary look which is a nice change from the boring looks of previous versions. They get high marks for that! Going beyond the GUI, get ready to spend some time learning the new layout! The tabs along the side of the screen now include balances, which is a great idea. Remeber how you could drag and drop the tabs to a new location? Forget it here! You now need to visit 2 screens to do the same thing. Remember adding reports and other often-used tabs? Forget it - functionality has been removed! You now have to get to a report via various menus or secondary screens; the quickest I have found is through 2 menus and no way to add a shortcut someplace else. Remember having a nice home page with nice small neat boxes with account balances, stock balance, etc. that fit on one screen without scrolling and being able to customize it? All boxes are now full-width on the screen so that you need to scroll through most every screen to find what you are looking for. The list continues . . . I've always been pretty impressed with Quicken and have been a devoted user for many years but Intuit blew it with this redesign. It seems like they've sacrificed user convenience by trying to stuff in more information and functionality - and not retaining some way for the user to customize and re-arrange things for the user's needs. I keep current on all my software but this is an exception; I'm going back to an old version and plan to try to return my software to Intuit. If your using a pre-2003 version and it's doing what you want it to do, save you money. Chances are you won't be impressed with the upgrade.
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Summary: Don't take reviews strictly at face value...
Review: I've been a Quicken user for over four years, starting with Quicken 98, then Quicken 2000. Recently I decided to upgrade so I researched Quicken 2003 & Money 2003. I also evaluated Money just to see the competition and get a more thorough view of what's available. I was amazed to find several negative reviews of Quicken 2003 here but even more amazed that many of these reviewers never purchased or used the product. Just a little free advice; ignore reviews of a product from people who have never used it! It's completely asinine to read a negative review on a product and then write another negative review encouraging others to avoid the product without any first-hand experience. As I said, I upgraded from Quicken 2000 to Quicken 2003 and I couldn't have asked for an easier process. The installation was flawless and the conversion of my data file equally flawless. Within minutes I was up and running, using all my old saved reports as well as entering new transactions without issue. The new interface took about fifteen minutes to master and it looks great. Everything is organized logically and MUCH easier to use than Money. Money is cluttered, less intuitive, and a little slow. Don't get me wrong, Money isn't a bad product on its own, but it just doesn't stand up to Quicken. Many reviewers complained of rampant ads running amok within Quicken 2003; I found this to be untrue. There were really no more ads in this version than there were in 2000 with the exception of a few small buttons offering extended services offered by Quicken. Anything I saw was unobtrusive and basically unnoticeable. The complaints, I believe, are overblown. There were also complaints of Quicken converting the data file so one cannot revert to a previous version. This claim is untrue as well; the setup program creates a back up copy explicitly for reverting to a previous version. Regardless one should be smart enough to back up one's important financial data before making a major software upgrade! Intuit offers a 60 day money back guarantee with Quicken 2003 so it should be, in theory, risk-free. I recommend this version as I have others and am glad I decided to upgrade.
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