I know that there was some noise when the Mac OS X 10.7 Lion was released and Quicken 2007 for Mac was reported by Intuit to be incompatible with any computer running the new operation system. Next, they release Quicken Essentials for Mac which was a neutered version of Quicken which quickly angered long-time customers even more. So they promised they would rewrite it to work on OS X Lion. Well, it has finally arrived. Cost is $15. Thanks to reader Paul for the tip.
Data migration. According to their FAQ, users can import data from Quicken 2005, 2006 or 2007 for Mac, as well as from Quicken Essentials for Mac. File conversion is not possible for Quicken 2004 for Mac and prior versions.
So now you can pay more to use their 5-year old software, hurray! I still think it’s pretty clear that Intuit isn’t going to spend too much more effort improving Quicken, instead they are spending more money on Mint.com which is online and free to users (ad-supported). Has anyone tried it out yet?
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I have been using Mint now for over two years, I love it. While it is not as robust as Quicken is, it makes reconciling credit cards easier then quicken.
I also find it nice to have a pretty comprehensive balance sheet that gives you a quick snapshot of your net worth while I have to put manual entry’s in for my paper Ibonds, the little hassle by no means out weigh how easy it is to use. I recommend folks should take it for a test drive just disregard the promotions they offer that is how they keep it free.
Intuit hasn’t stopped investing in Quicken. They just have never given the Mac version more than a half-hearted effort. On Windows, they continue to come out with new versions every year.
I gave up on the Mac version, and simply run the Windows version in a virtual machine on my Mac (provided by VirtualBox).
I have been on Mint for years, and tried quicken because I wanted a little more control. I quickly went back to Mint as the downloaded transactions are far, far superior. Mint certainly isnt what I would call powerful budgeting, but its a great way to see everything in one place.
I loved quicken when I had a PC. However since we are now a complete Apple household, I have gone with iBank which I am very pleased with. I love the iPhone app (able to add transactions on the fly then sync once home with iBank on iMac) they are working on iPad app that is more powerful and also have iBank investor which syncs with iBank through their servers (the cloud). I think they are becoming less of an alternative and more of a serious competitor.
Mint is ok for basics and getting better, but I will stick with iBank.
I use QuickBooks 2011 for Mac for our business accounting. I’m not a big fan of Intuit’s upgrade and pricing options. I recall QuickBooks had to be upgraded for the Snow Leopard to Lion transition too. Unfortunately, Intuit seems to make you pay full price vs. having a special upgrade price. I only use the most basic features of QuickBooks (keep track of business income and expenses) so I am disappointed when I am “forced” to upgrade, or stay with my old version of Mac OS.
Regarding Mint.com, it’s OK. I’d like to use it to keep track of investment asset allocations across multiple investment accounts. However, Mint does a really bad job assignment asset categories to ETFs. So, I still have to stick with manually entering items in Excel.
I agree that Mint is the future. However, I have over 6 years worth of transaction history on Quicken which is useful to me and I do not want to lose. If Intuit allowed Quicken users to move their Quicken data to Mint, I would be happy to make the switch.
I think Quicken for Windows is alive and well, with several products released each year. Also, Quicken (Intuit) have a much larger share of the market with MS Money now discontinued. I believe they understand the importance of backward compatibility to users, and if they ever did ditch the traditional Quicken for an online product it would require equivalent functionality and compatibility with existing data. After all, people do not use Quicken just for fun… they keep track of important things such as cost basis of securities (for tax treatment), charitable donations, etc.
As an example of a similar situation where users’ needs were considered, it was only after MS Money was discontinued that a usable conversion tool to convert from MS Money to Quicken was developed.
When I had a mac about 10 years ago, I hated it b/c Quicken for Mac was at least 5 years behind the windows version. Eventually, I had to run an emulator with the Windows versions to accomplish anything. It is one of the reason I don’t have a Mac now.
If you are serious about using Quicken as a tool to manage finances, Windows (as much as I hate Microsoft) is the only way to go.
I wonder why there isn’t a double-entry accounting online version of Quicken.
I also wonder how hard it really is to port over the Windows version of Quicken over to Mac since they are both on Intel processors now. Seems like I can get a Mac version of just about everything else.
I first heard of Mint more than 4 years ago, and have talked to all sorts of people that love it. The issue for me, as a marketing analyst, is that I know Mint.com is mining that data like crazy. I would sign up, and pay for it, if I had a guarantee my data would be only visible to me and not available for data mining.
Since there’s no option like that I use Excel to manage all my investments, expenses, revenues, etc. and everything else.
Give Moneydance a try.
I used Quicken Deluxe on Windows for years, and I used to do the Virtual Machine dance on my Mac to use Quicken. I grew tired of Quicken getting more buggy and unstable with each release (and their three-year forced upgrades), and I wanted software that would run natively on my Mac. So, I switched over to Moneydance a few years ago and haven’t looked back. I haven’t found anything that Quicken Deluxe could do that Moneydance can’t.
They have a trial version that allows you to import Quicken data, download transactions, and enter up to 100 transactions manually, so you get a good chance to try it before you buy it.