Quicken Premier 2011 - [Old Version]

I bought Quicken 4 on November 15, 1990 and purchased many of the upgrades since. It's safe to say that in that time the number of days I have not used Quicken probably number less than twenty. Before purchasing Quicken Premier 2011, I was using Quicken Premier 2008. Like most of my prior upgrades, the only reason I purchased this version is that Quicken regularly withdraws support for older versions and will not download stock quotes for such older versions. I don't have a problem with that. It does cost them money to provide those download services and the product is cheap enough that having to upgrade every three years hardly breaks the bank.But, that's the dilemma in rating the product. For someone who has never used Quicken before, I would go so far as to say it's the best product available and you'll love it (Five stars!). But, for someone who had been using a prior version as I have, it's difficult to find anything new with this version, even though it is marketed as a terrific new version with all kinds of new features. If so, I haven't found them. I'm sure there must be something new somewhere but having used the product for over twenty years, I use it the same way every day and certainly don't go looking for new features.What I do notice in this version is a slight improvement in the "look" of the product. It seems cleaner and the fonts are improved. But, more often the changes are simply annoying. Things have been moved around and changed to little purpose that I can detect. I'll get used to them and in a few more weeks, suspect I won't even remember what I was complaining about. Some examples:Upon entering a transaction, there is no longer an "Enter" button. It's now a "Save" button. The "Reconcile" button at the top of accounts has disappeared. Now one must click on a tab labeled "Account Actions" to find "Reconcile" listed as one of thirteen possible choices. Alternatively, each transaction now has a little icon that looks like a gear wheel. Click on that and "Reconcile" is one of the twenty-four choices plus a couple of transaction-specific options. Another annoyance is that the "Split" button no longer appears with that name. It is also one of the twenty-four choices. Or, next to that gear wheel, another icon with two angled up-facing arrows opens the split window (CTRL-S also continues to be available).There's nothing wrong with these approaches and they are just a matter of getting used to them. But, after using a different methodology daily for years, right now they are just annoying.A worse change for me is that the major headings on the Account Bar can no longer be clicked upon to move to that section. For example, clicking on "Investments" does nothing except expand or contract all the accounts below it. It no longer takes one to the Investment portfolio. To do that, one must click an Investing tab at the top of the screen. Again, I'll get used to it but it's annoying.Worst of all is a change that appears to have been made to data entry. When I begin to enter a Payee, Quick-fill immediately displays a list of prior payees. When I select one with the enter key, though, that payee is simply entered into the payee field and remains fully highlighted. In my prior version, upon pressing enter, the payee field was completed and the cursor jumped to the Charge or Payment field to allow the amount to be filled in. What I've found myself doing countless times is selecting a payee and then entering an amount only to look up and find that my payee has been replaced by the amount because the cursor is still sitting in that fully high-lighted field. More than annoying!Similarly, pressing the Enter key to move between fields always puts the cursor in the Tag field rather than skipping past it like my prior version. Since I rarely use tags, it was always more convenient to back up and fill in a tag on those few transactions that needed one. Now I must remember to press the Enter key to move out of the Tag field that I didn't want to be in in the first place.So, for someone who has never used Quicken before, these won't be annoyances. They'll simply be the way the product works. For a user like me, there are many old habits that must be broken to be replaced by new ones. I'll get used to all these new "features" and will come to like them just as much as I liked the prior version. Eventually!But to Intuit, stop marketing these upgrades as having terrific new functionality. They don't. Market them for what they are: you're withdrawing support for versions that are three older than the new version. No one can reasonably quibble with that.

I have been a devoted Quicken user almost since the company launched. It is one of the most important and utilized pieces of software on my computer, and my affection for Quicken goes far beyond the normal relationship one has with anything digital. I personally want to reach out and touch all my investments, assets, and liabilities on a real time basis - and Quicken allows me to do this - even with the money I have professionally managed. In fact, the first question for me when I work with any money management firm or bank is "are you equipped to do one-step Quicken downloads?" And this doesn't mean "multiple step downloads" - it means I hit my update button on Quicken and all your info miraculously appears. If they can't do that, I don't work with them. Suffice to say, I'm a big Quicken fan.In the old days I would purchase the new version every year or two. At fifty or sixty bucks, it's a bargain, and there were usually valuable updates. But the last few years I found little advantage in the new versions. Quicken 2008 works great - and the small enhancements were not worth the money, or more importantly, the hassle of upgrading, so I have stuck with the version that works best for me.But a couple weeks ago I received the following email:When you purchase Quicken, we include three years of automatic bank downloads and technical support. Your current version of Quicken has reached its three year limit for these services, so you'll no longer be able to do the following:Automatically bring the most up-to-date info from your banks, credit cards, credit unions or investment accounts into QuickenPay bills, get stock quotes, or read news headlines from within QuickenGet help by phone or onlineSo essentially in a few months my current version of Quicken would be worthless. I don't remember them telling me when I purchased it that I was really just renting it for three years, but I guess that is the software biz. And as much as I dislike Quicken's sales process. I will grudgingly admit it is well worth the price, and accordingly I just upgraded to Quicken 2011 Premier Edition.A few suggestions and observations:Buy it from Amazon, and ignore the endless stream of Quicken promotions you might receive if you already use Quicken. Amazon has the best price.Buy the Premier Edition - or the Home and Business edition if you are utilizing the small business accounting functions. The added features you receive for an additional $25 to $30 are well worth the investment.Make sure you establish a good back-up process. If your pipes are fast enough you can back up online. I back up in two locations.My biggest fear when I upgraded in the past was the potential loss of data (which is easily overcome via backup) - but more importantly the loss of links used for automatic downloads. I have a dozen more more automatic downloads, and previously many were lost in the upgrade, requiring a really time consuming process to re-establish them.However, Premier 2011 installed easily and flawlessly, with all my downloads and links in place, the easiest upgrade I had ever experienced with Quicken. I have used the new version for a week, and here are my observations:The Good:They have maintained much of the original layout, so there is not much of a learning curve to use the new version.Some of the reporting features are greatly enhanced. I particularly like the new asset allocation features. They are much more accurate and allow for much more detailed analysis.The Bad:For some reason, it is just slower. Slower to react - slower to download - slower to move between reports.Some of the easy links between programs are gone. For instance, I can't jump to the portfolio column and the right hand overview screens.Overall, if I wasn't forced to upgrade there are not enough features to justify trading up. But given the overall usefullness of Quicken I am happy to support continued development and support of the product. If you are new to Quicken - I think you will really love it!