How usefull is this forum?

[Theodor]

As it looks to me, there are no real solutions, other than painfull patches.
Are there any positive changes/upgrades/windowsupdates for accounting
generated from this?
Where do you see the value of this forum created for you?

 

[koulaid]

Well, its four days since you posted, and there are no flames!
I think the forum is used by most people as an accounting forum. There are
a lot of accounting questions that should be addressed to an accountant that
get very few answers. Some of the questions asked have the answers in the
forum if searched for.

I think MS meant this as a software forum and that is just about the only
questions that get answered. There are a few partners and a few users that
reply to help, but basically the forum is what it is. If the software gets
more market share , the forum will thrive. What appears to be happening is
users try the software, have an issue, get discouraged and you never hear
from them again. The patches are painful.

As far as changes/upgrades generated from the forum. This is a sore point
with me. I think MS is beta testing the software on a live audience. I
have an issue that there is no public fix available for. The fix is
available from MS, but it is no a public fix. This version will not receive
the fix. I will have to pay for the next version to receive the fix. I have
already paid several times and will not pay again until the issues are fixed
in my current version. There needs to be another service pak before the next
version comes out.

Initially, there was value in the forum. People were excited about the new
package, tired of intuit and gave freely. When the free version came out
things changed. People associated free software with free accounting. The
value has dropped in the two years I have used the software. Come January,
I may not see any value at all.

dk

 

[themurf]

Very good thread. You are absolutely right the accounting questions are not
generally answered by MS personnel. However, if they are serious about
getting this software right they should hire a true accountant, and maybe
even more importantly, a BOOKKEEPER to analyze the posts and make an effort
to understand the day to day operations a company has when using the
software. Part of the reason that the users are upset and so many appear to
be bailing on the product is that it is very clumsy in dealing with the basic
simple user interfaces. They need to listen to Betty Bookkeeper and take her
advice along the way here.

I am runing the 08 Beta and have submitted a number of issues that need to
be addressed. Most of them are directly related to difficult user interface
issues and in some cases stupid things that should have been fixed before
this even came to market. The last generic response form the MS beta team
went something like, "don't bother us with the annoying little bugs, we want
to know if the computer crashes when you perform certain exotic tasks." Well,
like you, I am not really concerend about the exotic internet sales
interfaces, fancy bank interfaces and the like if the softeware can't perform
basic functions well. I have very little confidence in using any automated
feature at this point. I must say that for the cost of the software, I am
able to perform the basic functions I need it to do, most not particularly
elegantly, I might add, so I am not ready to pull the plug on it but it does
seem to me that the MS people are not interested in dealing with the basics
and are after developing exotic new things in the hopes of picking up new
business. The problem with that thinking is that when you have a customer who
is dissatisfied with the original purchase it is really difficult to get them
to purchase an upgrade. I once bought a car that did not perform well. I have
never bought another of that brand since even though prior to my bad purchase
it was my favorite brand. MS is simply going to have to get their head out of
the ivory tower over there in Redmond or where ever this group is and grovel
with the likes of us to find out where the irritants are. I am with you, I am
not going to put out another penny on this software until the bank
reconciliation can be prevented from throwing up a wrong balance which can't
be corrected and I can manage column widths for goodness sakes..... theMurf