The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Upgrade Or Upset - A Gripe  with The Quicken Upgrade Bob Mayston bobmay@melbpc.org.au

Continuing improvement in software performance is a fact of life. Such improvements are often by way of upgrades to an existing program. The usual method is to run the upgrade over the existing program which is then updated with the newer features, and you continue on as before but with the enhancements.

When the particular program is first purchased often it is necessary to expend time in customizing it to your particular needs. This is often time consuming, particularly with some popular bookkeeping/accounting programs such as Quicken/MYOB. Once established however you expect not to spend major time repeating or modifying in the future. In the past the upgrades to both Quicken and Quickbooks have adapted the new features into the program without major disruptions. You simply installed them and continued as before.

Not so with the latest incarnations of both Quicken V6 and Quickbooks V5. First we were led to understand both products would be Y2K compliant at least to year 2027. So to users of Quicken Deluxe V6.00, it was a surprise to recently receive from the suppliers a CD claiming to "address a number of minor Y2K issues and cosmetic changes" associated with Quicken V6.0.

Sounds harmless enough until you install it, then bingo! The Quickinvoice facility previously in use has vanished together with the customer and item lists. The program is no longer V6.0 but 6.5 a bastard child neither V6 or V7 which are the two recognized programs. Hardly a "minor issue". Panic - what to do to continue your business invoicing. Attempts to phone Quicken Help line punctuated by advice of long delays and call abandoned after 20 minutes wait. Send a fax and email calling for help but you guessed it - no reply.

In desperation I reinstalled version 6 with Quickinvoice. At least for the moment we can get our invoices out and continue in business and as of 12/01/2000 no problems have yet surfaced, except the date function in Quickinvoice. But I am sure they are lurking there somewhere otherwise why the need for the upgrade?

A visit to the Quicken Web site in search of an explanation drew a blank. No mention of any problems. The first ray of intelligence came from Melb PC Quicken SIG Convener Viv Martin who put out a general broadcast after contacting Intuit/Quicken Sydney where surprise, surprise! Quickens representative conceded they had many calls on the problem because "unfortunately our instructions were not at all clear." A utility required to convert the Quickinvoice data was on the upgrade CD but there was no instruction on the necessity to use it. No wonder there are so many help phone calls. If the instructions were correct in the first instance the need to phone the help line would have been much less.

Now you would think any caring supplier on finding their error would attempt to notify their customers either by mail/fax or the Web, but not a whisper; customers just have to fend for themselves. Finally some time later on the web site I located the patch to convert the Quickinvoice data, but no apology for omitting the instructions in the first instance.

A further gripe emerges when the invoice function is raised in V6.5. The format of the former Quickinvoice has changed and will not fit the preprinted invoice forms which Intuit encourage you to purchase. Further there is no provision to state terms, you are force) to use Quickens "Due Date" day calculated from invoice date, not as in Australia where most business is based on calendar month.

So not only do you need new stationery printed but you can no longer print your terms of business as formerly.

In the new V6.5 I can no longer turn on the Q cards or access the video help files. A search of the CD discloses their presence but try as I may I cannot access them from the Quicken program.

So if you think I am disenchanted with this so called UPGRADE and with Intuit/Quicken you are correct. Far from a seamless transition it appears to have all the hall marks of a hastily prepared and half baked effort distributed without full and correct instructions and when the lack of instructions was discovered, no effort made to rectify the position.

But this is not an isolated case. The sister program is Quickbooks. I started with version 3 and progressively upgraded without difficulty to Ver 5. This has served us well and we are happy to remain with V5. In passing we add that having set up our invoices template in the earlier versions the progression to and including V5 has not required any modification to our preprinted invoice forms. Because of impending GST which is supported by V6 only we decided to upgrade.

Now in small print in the V6 manual it says the upgrading to V6 "may" not convert all your customized forms and you may have to recreate them. At least they warned you. You are urged to read the release notes on the CD. And what do they say? No longer is the operative word may - but here it states your template and memorized forms/reports WILL be trashed and you WILL have to recreate them! So, all that work has to be recreated. That takes time and time is money. Now I say any upgrade worth its salt should have been able to upgrade your data without the need for you to return to square one and recreate it. So 0/10 Intuit/Quicken programmers for your indifference to your customers' needs.

But is all this a sign of a more underlying symptom? Once Intuit and MYOB were both software vendors and the program was the object to be advanced. Both enjoyed a fairly equal share of the market. Tech service was in-house and the whole effort dedicated to the advance of the program. Today, in my view MYOB remains the leading dedicated accounting software supplier as they keep their eye on the software ball. By contrast Quicken/Intuit has concentrated particularly their Web site on commercial offerings of online share trading, sales of insurance, point-of-sale software. Looking at the overall activities one is left wondering if they have lost the plot on software.

The present above-related example of recent software upgrades and lack of vital instructions leaves one wondering if the dedication to maintain the quality formerly associated with the Quicken set of programs is still there or has it been lost in the world of online consumerism.

History has a habit of repeating itself. Many will remember Wordstar the program that once dominated word processing. Then came Windows which at first was ignored until a hastily prepared and slow Windows Wordstar version was produced that customers deserted in droves. The company forgot to keep their eye on the ball. With Quicken management concentration on selling online services perhaps the lessons of history will again be proven correct.

Reprinted from the April 2000 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

[About Melbourne PC User Group]