According to CNet, Microsoft will soon be bringing to an end its Money line of personal finance management software.From Microsoft's Money FAQ, the products affected include Microsoft Money Essentials, Microsoft Money Plus Deluxe, Microsoft Money Plus Premium and Microsoft Money Plus Home & Business. For Microsoft Money Essentials, online services (online stock/share quotations and bill-paying) will stop one year after activation or 31 January 2011, whichever comes first. For everything else, users will continue to be able to access online services "for two years after initial activation or until 1/31/2011, whichever comes first."
On Microsoft's own Money site, the company explains that, "[w]ith banks, brokerage firms and Web sites now providing a range of options for managing personal finances, the consumer need for Microsoft Money Plus has changed. After suspending annual updates of Money Plus in 2008, Microsoft is announcing today that we will no longer offer Microsoft Money Plus for purchase after June 30, 2009."
The Redmond company warns that "[a]ll purchased Money Plus products must be activated prior to Jan. 31, 2011." Once activated, the program will work as usual. However, after the cut-off date for online services, users will be left with reduced functionality and the inability to upgrade their version of Money or move it to a new machine, virtual or otherwise.
Competition with Intuit and web services has been blamed for this move on Microsoft's part. The Money franchise has been in contraction for some time--the last UK version of Money came out in 2004 (branded as "2005"). Although most consumers with a need for a Money replacement will likely look elsewhere, some may be enticed to try the company's more recent offering for small businesses--Microsoft Office Accounting Professional. Others will no doubt be looking to Intuit, Mint.com, or GnuCash.
The issue is more like the Internet today (though it had been Quicken in the past). Quicken (and the small-business variant, QuickBooks) have been the accounting software that pretty much everyone has cut their teeth on; where Money made their inroads was with the banks, primarily by *not* tying their hands as far as compatibility with their existing back-office operations (whereas Intiut acted like IBM; not only requiring the banks to use their formats, but even requiring they use Intiut-designated data providers, or, after Intiut acquired those same companies, Intuit itself, and charging hefty fees). As little as three years ago, Quicken itself was in deep trouble, largely because of the inroads of Money, and banks deploying browser-based online-banking tools via their own Web sites, obviating the need for Quicken (or Money). Such portal-based online banking has only mushroomed since; now engulfing Money just as it had done to Quicken. (Even for Intuit, Quicken is not the cash-cow it was; that role has been assumed by TurboTax.) On the small-business side, Money had made no inroads against QuickBooks/QuickBooks Pro (which has actually changed little at its core since the days of Windows 95).
That brings the count of Microsoft Products that I use or subscribe too, to three; OneCare, Encarta and now Money.
Last edited by NPGMBR on 11 Jun 2009 - 13:22
Can anyone else confirm this?
before someone else chimes in and says there are alternatives... notice I said my accounts, not all my accounts support quicken's format... my main bank only sends to Money... and alternatives it wont even talk to it seems...
What will likely happen is that more banks will switch to a portal-based system, eschewing Quicken in favor of (don't laugh) Excel (my own bank supports Money and Excel today). The reason given by the banks telling Microsoft to naff off (which is the real reason for Microsoft killing Money) is increased security standards involving online/Internet banking; however, the real reason is customer resistance to online-banking-based fees/"unfees" (the insistence from customers is that online/Internet banking be free, as in beer). Money itself is typically provided at low cost (or none at all) in a sponsorship arrangement by the financial institution (banks/credit unions/investment firms/etc.), just as Quicken often is. Intuit (and Microsoft, to a lesser extent) made their money on the back end in service charges collected via that institution (who, in turn, passed them on to the customer). The free lunch is ending, folks.
I had a look at the free Office Accounting program from MS, but you can only import .ofx files into that .. well done Microsoft!!
Any ideas anybody??
Btw this is a huge problem for me too; I already have to deal with Quickbooks that I hate, the perspective to deal with Quicken too is really depressing.
Why BG does not come back and get rid of all these bean counters that are jeopardising the company?
It does have some useful features though .. for instance it seems to be ebay and paypal friendly ..
I've spent a few hours today trying to find an alternative to MS Money, and sadly the competition are pretty ropey it seems to me.
I'm quite happy carrying on with Money 2004 UK version but there is the 'small' but vital patch it needs that you can't download seperately .. again, well done Microsoft!! .. bloody typical mis-management ..
Terrible news though because there is clearly a need for this kind of software.
Used MS money since 2003 for personal finance and Office Accounting for my home-based business.
Looking at switching to quicken, but the reviews for quicken 2009 are horrid.
Mint.com doesn't look like it will do it for me, but maybe it will? Anyone used it?
signed up for mint.com. deleted my account minutes later. seems cool, but i need more functionality.
why microsoft? why do you do this to me?
Mint.com and Quickonline.com sure do look quite similar.
Last edited by RichardK on 11 Jun 2009 - 16:28
I have every release of Money that MS has released and I am sad to see it go
Support for Quicken was dropped by a lot of banks because of the rootkit fiasco with Quicken/TurboTax. My bank doesn't support it, and probably never will again.
I started out using Quicken (MS-DOS), back when you could run the whole program and keep your data all on 1 floppy disk. Still have it somewhere. Switched to Money when Microsoft released their first version that they gave away for free and have used it ever since.
Last edited by RichardK on 11 Jun 2009 - 16:31
Last edited by kaborka on 11 Jun 2009 - 18:30
Personally I don't care for Quicken. This is just typical Microsoft stealing from the customers again, once they get your money, you don't get what you paid for.
Also, how is Microsoft robbing you? If you paid for MS Money you can still use it I'm sure. The program isn't an online only program where you won't be able to launch it anymore. The only thing it will probably loose is the ability to go online and download stuff, but you can punch it in manually or import money format files from your bank...
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