Microsoft is paving the way for its September release of a new small-business accounting application by putting together a host of networking and support services targeted at accountants, including the new Microsoft Professional Accountants Network that it will launch within the next three months. Microsoft is also developing a presence at accounting-industry events, starting with the New Jersey Accounting, Business, and Technology Show taking place this week in Secaucus, New Jersey. Microsoft plans to preview its upcoming Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 software, now in beta, at the conference.
The new product will take Microsoft into a market currently dominated by Intuit's QuickBooks accounting software. Research firm IDC ranks Intuit as the second-largest vendor of accounting and financial management software, behind SAP. But while SAP's forte is large enterprise resource planning systems, QuickBooks targets the low-end market of businesses with up to a few dozen employees--the segment Microsoft would like to penetrate with Office Small Business Accounting.
Microsoft revealed on Monday its intended $200 retail price tag for the software's stand-alone edition. Office Small Business Accounting will also be available as part of the Microsoft Office Small Business Management Edition 2006 bundle, which will include Microsoft's Business Contact Manager Update as well as its 2003 editions of Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Access. Pricing for the bundle has not yet been announced.
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News source: PCWorld
The new product will take Microsoft into a market currently dominated by Intuit's QuickBooks accounting software. Research firm IDC ranks Intuit as the second-largest vendor of accounting and financial management software, behind SAP. But while SAP's forte is large enterprise resource planning systems, QuickBooks targets the low-end market of businesses with up to a few dozen employees--the segment Microsoft would like to penetrate with Office Small Business Accounting.
Microsoft revealed on Monday its intended $200 retail price tag for the software's stand-alone edition. Office Small Business Accounting will also be available as part of the Microsoft Office Small Business Management Edition 2006 bundle, which will include Microsoft's Business Contact Manager Update as well as its 2003 editions of Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Access. Pricing for the bundle has not yet been announced.
View: The full story News source: PCWorld
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Microsoft is awesome for doing tests like that.
also, Intuit's QuickBooks has always been overpriced (plus they dont support the product after a certain period. a copy of QuickBooks Pro 2000 i used stopped working in 2004 i believe - expensive upgrades are forced). i think pricing was around the $500-$1500 range.
if Microsoft can deliver something just as good as QuickBooks for around the $200-$500 price range, even with forced upgrades (the program's tax information needs to updated every year i believe), its still a better value than QuickBooks. this will be another market Microsoft dominates (to the benefit of the consumer obviously).
Example: The first year we had QuickBooks, we paid around $160.00 for Intuit's "Premium" telephone tech support package—which turned out to be a toll number that didn't get answered because Intuit oversold the service. As a result, the first and only time we tried to use the service we stayed on hold for over two hours without getting to talk to anyone. We finally hung up after racking up long distance charges for the whole time. Needless to say, we tried to get rid of this "service" and asked Intuit for a refund. We were politely told to go screw ourselves. And that's only one gripe I have out of many with that slimeball company.
I would have dumped QuickBooks on the spot if I could have. Unfortunately, our CPA and all of his clients also use this software for lack of a suitable alternative. So Intuit pretty much had us all over a barrel.
Not any more! Now it looks like I'm going to be able to tell Intuit to kiss my entire ass. Something I've been wanting to do for a really long time. I know my CPA and many (if not all) of his other clients are of like mind.
But hey! Why wait?
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