Quicken is a personal finance management tool developed by Intuit, Inc.
Different (and incompatible) versions of Quicken run on Windows and Macintosh systems. Previous versions ran on DOS.[1] The last version of Quicken for Macintosh computers was Quicken Essentials for Mac released in February 2010.[2] Some of the features of Quicken are not present in Quicken Essentials for Mac, such as the ability to track investment buys and sells or to pay bills online from the application. For these features, the Quicken website recommends Quicken Mac 2007.[3]
There are several versions of Quicken, including Quicken Starter, Quicken Deluxe, Quicken Rental Property Manager, Quicken Premier, Quicken Home & Business, Quicken Personal and Quicken Personal Plus. Since 2008, each version of Quicken has tended to have the release year in the product name (e.g., Quicken Basic 2008). Prior to this, versions were numbered. (e.g. Quicken 8 for DOS).
Quicken's major marketplace is North America, and the majority of the software sold is specialized for the United States and Canadian marketplace and user base. However the core functions can often be used more widely regardless of country, and in addition, versions have been tailored for a variety of marketplaces including Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, The Philippines and Singapore.[4] Development of the UK-specific version of Quicken was discontinued in January 2005, with sales and support following shortly after. At one time or another there were also versions for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay and Venezuela.[4]
Related products
The Quicken brand has been extended to other personal or household areas including healthcare. Quicken Health Expense Tracker is a free online tool for health care consumers enrolled in participating health plans. The product will "allow members to manage and direct their health care finances, view and organize medical expenses, payments and service histories, and download and organize personal health claims data."[5] The Quicken Medical Expense Manager is a desktop software tool for managing healthcare paperwork, tracking claims and payments, and consolidating related information.
Quicken Kids & Money was a web-based program that aimed to help parents teach five- to eight-year-old children how to earn, spend, save and share money. It is now discontinued.[6]
Other products are aimed at home business and seem to fit in a space for a less formal business than would be using QuickBooks. Quicken Rental Property Manager is a desktop software tool for managing rental properties, tracking tenants, expenses, payments and producing tax reports.
Software as a service
Quicken Online was a free, hosted solution (see software as a service) by Intuit. Intuit hosted all of the user's data, and provided patches and regularly upgraded the software automatically. Initially this was launched as a monthly paid subscription, and was a free service for over a year. During the year that it was free, it acquired over 1.5 million customers. It was discontinued on August 29, 2010 and users were encouraged to transition to Mint.com.
Intuit completed the acquisition of competitor Mint.com on November 2, 2009, and has announced that it will be transitioning users to that service from Quicken Online.
Editions
The following are current (selling and supported) and retired (discontinued in both sales and support) versions of Quicken.
Current
Selling
- Starter Edition 2013
- Deluxe 2013
- Premier 2013
- Home & Business 2013
- Rental Property Manager 2013
- Quicken Essentials for Mac
- Lion Compatible Quicken Mac 2007
Supported
- Starter Edition 2012
- Deluxe 2012
- Premier 2012
- Home & Business 2012
- Rental Property Manager 2012
- Starter Edition 2011
- Deluxe 2011
- Premier 2011
- Home & Business 2011
- Starter Edition 2010
- Deluxe 2010
- Premier 2010
- Home & Business 2010
- Quicken for Mac 2007
- Quicken for Mac 2006
- Quicken for Mac 2005
Retired
(Dates retired are shown.) [7]
- Starter, Deluxe, Premier, Home & Business 2009 - April 30, 2012
- Basic, Premier, Deluxe 2008 – April 27, 2011
- Home & Business 2007
- Basic, Premier, Deluxe 2007 – April 30, 2010
- 2006 (Win) – April 30, 2009
- 2005 (Win) – April 30, 2008
- 2004 – April 30, 2007
- 2003 – April 25, 2006
- 2002 – April 19, 2005
- 2001 – April 19, 2005
- 2000 – May 18, 2004
- 98 and 99 – April 20, 2004
- 97 and earlier – 2001-2002
- Version 6 for Windows. "Designed for Windows 95. Release 6.0. (c) 1996"
Criticisms
- Quicken contains a sunset provision that stops online features and any QFX formatted files from working after a certain amount of time,[8][9] requiring users to first buy a new Quicken license, and then to learn a new, often different interface to the more recent Quicken version.
- Intuit stopped supporting its Quicken software in the United Kingdom in 2005 leaving many thousands of users with only partially functional software.[10]
- In 2008 and 2009 Quicken users reported an unusually large number of software bugs for a commercial product.[11][12][13] A review of Quicken 2010 suggests that quality and user interface in that product year is dramatically improved.[14]
- Existing Quicken Online users' data is not transferrable/importable into Mint.com. This is in direct contrast to VP Aaron Patzer's promise on April 27, 2010 that, "[Until the merger with Mint.com is complete], you can continue to use Quicken Online just like you have. Once we have completed integrating all features to Mint, you will be able to easily transfer your information and data to ensure the smoothest transition possible."[15]
- While there is a version of Quicken for the Mac, it lacks many of the features of the Windows version.
- To migrate to Lion, users are required to pay for an updated version of Quicken 2007. It has no new features.
See also
References
External links
