Tech Talk

Ok, its been months… I’m kind of bummed.  I signed up for the Quicken Financial Life for Mac beta program back in February of 2008, shortly after AppleInsider’s first coverage of the product.  While I’ve waited patiently and while I’ve signed up on the their beta signup for several time over the months that followed, Intuit has been completely mute about the beta.  As a matter fact, they carefully hid the signup form for months and only within the last three have they really released any information about the product on their website.  All the while, I’m wondering what about that beta signup?  

On top of this, their last release – Quicken for Mac 2007 – hasn’t been aging gracefully.  My biggest heartburn is the lack of import or transport for my years of data held in the grasp of Microsoft Money.  I simply can’t find an alternative that meets my needs, and so I am desperately hoping that the ground-up rewrite of Quicken will do that…  I’m not a serious number cruncher when it comes to my personal finance, but I want a couple things:  1) the ability to carry over all my prior transactions AND their categories and 2) the ability for the software to automatically download my transactions from my banks or credit card companies.  

All the while that our Office programs have been growing more compatible with interchangable file formats, our money management software has us locked into their proprietary grips.  Sure, there are QIF and other interchangable file formats, but we all know that the bulk of our data won’t move using those file formats.  And, call me lazy, but I don’t want to go and re-do all the work that I have completed for years and years of transactions just to move into a new program.  So, alas, I find no good MAC alternative for money management and I continue to use Microsoft Money in Windows in VMware Fusion on my Mac…   

I have also examined the online alternatives, including Quicken’s free online tools, Yodlee, Mint and others.  But those tie me down to my internet connection.  I have more than once balanced my checkbook while whizzing down the highway……………. no, my wife was driving, not me, just for clarity sake.  Anyways, enough rambling.  I just wish I could find the solution… Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.