Money 2002 Forever!

[mg]

Like some others in this newsgroup, I'm on an older version of Money (2002)
and from the comments I read every year, the newer versions sound like
downgrades so I see no reason to "upgrade".

Does the two-year time limit for online banking actually stop you from even
manually downloading account statements after two years? If so, no thanks.
Also the increased advertising users complain about would drive me nuts.

Still, I sometimes get the urge to evaluate new versions out of curiosity.
But it seems a big risk and possibly more trouble than it's worth. Even if I
install 2007 in a different folder I read it will not convert a COPY of my
2002 file directly to 2007 anyway. And who knows what registry settings
Money 2007 changes that might negatively impact 2002 even after uninstalling
2007?

Has anyone been successful in running 2007 evaluation and then uninstalling
with no negative effect on the older version?

 

[William R Wood]

I use M2002 and I have evaluated every new version up to 2006 without
problems. I do the evaluation on a separate computer however. M2006 trial
converted my 2002 file perfectly. Don't know about 2007 which I refused to
test after reading about it on this list.

So far I have seen no reason to upgrade and several reasons that absolutely
prevent upgrading - budget report bugs, negative interface changes,
automatic disabling of online services and annoying advertising.

But it was fun trying the newer versions. Made me realize how good M2002
really is.

Regards


Bill Wood

 

[mg]

Evaluating on another computer is the best idea. I'll probably install 2007
on a VMware guest machine if I bother at all. I've always preferred Money
over Quicken, but Microsoft has locked into an unappealing mature-product
strategy.

The fact that the Money team hasn't even bothered to challenge Quicken's
touted receipt and invoice image feature is more evidence of product apathy.
If customers pay for ads and built-in obsolescence they'll only get more of
the same.

 

[William R Wood]

I agree completely. But Intuit is no better than MSFT. Both employ the
automatic disabling of online services ploy and both have apparently agreed
tacitly to accept their current market share which means that there is no
effective competition in the personal finance software field. The outlier
programs like Moneydance are so pathetically far behind and understaffed
that they have no hope of ever catching up. I wasted at least 6 months
running Moneydance (the best of the 3rd party programs available)
side-by-side with M2002 until it was clear that the developer (a nice guy
but only one person who also has a real job) simply did not have the time or
maybe the depth to produce a program with features equal to Money or
Quicken.

I am amazed that people behave like sheep and keep buying new versions of
Money/Quicken thereby rewarding MSFT/Intuit for their bad behavior and
anti-customer attitudes. I keep using M2002 partly in protest of MSFT's
behavior but most people think I am nuts and pi**ing up a rope! Well
maybe, but MSFT ain't getting any more money out of me, ever, unless they
improve Money substantively and get rid of the auto disabling of downloading
baloney.

Regards

Bill Wood

 

[mg]

Hear hear!

 

[peter]

Hear hear!

I still use Money 2001 for all the reasons listed above. I am still able to
daily download all my stock prices and my banking and credit card
transactions. (I am in Australia, dunno if that makes a difference)
The only problem on the horizon will be when I upgrade to a new computer. I
will be able to reinstall Money 2001, but what about the updates that were
downloaded in the years that money 2001 was supported.
I may have to do a disk copy from my current computer and then upgrade the
operating system to what ever replaces XP.

Any thoughts ?

Peter
Sydney

 

[William R Wood]

I wouldn't worry about it.

I buy new computers every year or so and upgrade the O/S to the current
version of Windows. I then install Money2002 from the CD on the new
computer and let Money download updates. The only thing that gets
downloaded seems to be the list of banks/brokers. In any event Money always
works perfectly after these new installations.

I just went through this process a few months back when I built my last
computer and everything is fine. I never copied anything from my old
computers except, of course, my data file.

As long as banks continue to give us manual downloads of transaction data
(OFX, or even QIF, and every bank I deal with does) it looks like we can
continue to use these old versions of Money forever.

Regards,

Bill Wood

 

[peter]

I wouldn't worry about it.

I buy new computers every year or so and upgrade the O/S to the current
version of Windows. I then install Money2002 from the CD on the new
computer and let Money download updates. The only thing that gets
downloaded seems to be the list of banks/brokers. In any event Money
always works perfectly after these new installations.

I just went through this process a few months back when I built my last
computer and everything is fine. I never copied anything from my old
computers except, of course, my data file.

As long as banks continue to give us manual downloads of transaction data
(OFX, or even QIF, and every bank I deal with does) it looks like we can
continue to use these old versions of Money forever.

Regards,

Bill Wood

Thanks Bill,

My banks and credit card companies all allow manual downloads and give the
data in QIF files.

regards
Peter