We've been seeing that transition happening with Money since about 2002.

The question is whether it will be successful--as a business strategy for
Microsoft and a way for customers to get function they value--and whether it
will result in anything more than just some buggy ad delivery engine, hosted
mostly or exclusively on the web, that may or may not do personal financial
management well at all but where that doesn't matter anyway as long as it
attracts subscribing eyeballs to ads.

Note that the number of new features introduced over the web to Money--the
desktop application--so far has been zero. They don't even "improve" many
broken ones this way. The number of new features introduced since 2005, in
the box or via the web, is not much higher and since 2002 is only slightly
higher than that. The last time they really put out a major development
effort was for code that shipped just shy of a decade ago.

Note also that many users resist putting their personal finances on a
Microsoft web site like they resist little else. Deliver anti-virus updates
over the web? Great. Store all my financial history on a Microsoft web site?
Over Bill's dead body.

"Taylor" <taylor[at]nospam2me.com> wrote in message
news:4798999c$0$1490$4c368faf[at]roadrunner.com...
- quote -

"Taylor" <taylor[at]nospam2me.com> wrote in message
news:4798999c$0$1490$4c368faf[at]roadrunner.com...
- quote -

I think much of the consumer computing world is taking that direction.
E.g., references to 'cloud' computing. Business applications may be
doing the same. Changes will happen fast for apps like Office, Money
and Quicken, but not so fast for industrial apps.
--
Chris Cowles
Gainesville, FL

"Steve" <sjcohen730[at]aol.com> wrote in message
news:ad49bff3-cf17-4eb7-a7cb-837d8df286d1[at]c4g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

Money is controlled by the Windows Live (formerly MSN) team, not the
Microsoft Office team. The goal of Live is to switch to a
subscription-based, or now ad-based, online model, where you pay a
subscription, or receive ads, and get constant online updates, instead of
them releasing all-new versions every 18 months that you purchase in a box
at a retail store. What you are seeing is the transition to this new model.

On Jan 23, 7:38*pm, "Chris Cowles" <spam_mag...[at]remove-me-
bellsouth.net> wrote:
- quote -

Chris:

I had discussed my experiment with Quicken in an earlier thread
similar to this one entitled "Money (2008) vs 2007?" Search for the
thread to see the full discussion. Here was a post I had in that
thread:

------
This thread led me to take another look at Quicken. This is a short
report on my findings.

As a quick history, I switched from Quicken to Money around 2001 as I
liked the Portfolio Manager and especially the Lifetime Planner.
I've
been with Money since and have upgraded every year.


In 2005, I took another look at Quicken (Quicken Premier 2005) as I
was very disappointed with severe problems in Money 2005. I didn't
want to give up on Money since there was much I still liked and so
for
a period I kept my finances up to date in both Money and Quicken.
Money fixed many of the problems introduced in 2005 over the coming
years and the more recent versions seem to be fairly stable. While I
know that the product still has many flaws that have been reported
here, I still find it to be very useful and do not find the flaws to
interfere with my everyday use of the product. I am able to analyze
my various portfolios, track their progress, and plan for retirement
using the Lifetime Planner. I'm able to pay my bills through MSN
Bill
Pay without ever experiencing a problem and download my credit card
transactions directly from the providers. In the few rare cases
where
I am unable to download from direct connect, I am able to import a
qif
file from the provider.


This thread led me to take another look at Quicken mostly because of
the discussion about what would we all do if Money were no longer
supported. I figured it might be prudent to update my last version
of
my Quicken file. I was able to do so with about 5 hours of work. I
was using Quicken 06 and so could not import qif files to bring my
credit cards and investments up to date. I did find that I could
create a cash account and import the credit card qifs that I exported
from Money and then just transfer the transactions to the given
credit
card account. This procedure did not work with investments however
and so where I was unable to get data from the provider, I had to
manually enter.


I now have a Quicken file up to date with my Money file and can
compare. I've also upgraded Quicken to Quicken 08 Premier through
the
trial download. What I've found has very much confirmed my earlier
decision to go with Money. Here are the major disappointments with
Quicken from my perspective:


1. The Quicken Retirement Planner is nowhere near as complete or
robust as the Money Lifetime Planner. Neither product has updated
this feature in awhile but Money continues to outshine Quicken here.


2. Data issues. I've found numerous problems with reports in
Quicken. It's possible that I've introduced some errors in updating
my file, but they are very strange. For example, Quicken reports
that
I have a negative balance in a brokerage account in a portfolio graph
on the homepage but in the account view, it correctly reports my
balance. I tried validating the file (equivalent of Money repair) to
no avail.


3. Import/export. This is a severe limitation in my opinion.
Quicken does not import qif any longer. I think the current version
even took away the workaround I performed in my 06 version of using a
cash account to import credit card transactions. My wife's 403(b)
account only provides qif download and so Money can import while
Quicken cannot. The real lunacy is that if you want to export
transactions in Quicken, the only choice is qif. Why on earth would
they only allow qif export, but exclude qif import other than because
they are trying to extort the data providers?


I'm sticking with Money and I really hope that Microsoft sticks with
Money. It's not perfect, but it works.


Jeff

I think they stopped even dreaming about that objective a year or two after
the Intuit buyout was quashed by the government.

"Jamie" <Jlawson01[at]OMITTHIS.lear.com> wrote in message
news:%237PAqvcXIHA.4896[at]TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
- quote -

"Chris Cowles" <spam_magnet[at]remove-me-bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:ejGjhCiXIHA.5448[at]TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
- quote -

I should say, elaborate beyond what Intuit posts on their web site,
involving Money transaction reports?

TIA

"Steve" <sjcohen730[at]aol.com> wrote in message
news:ad49bff3-cf17-4eb7-a7cb-837d8df286d1[at]c4g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

Another possibility, though probably unlikely, is that they are totally
revamping the interface to look and feel more like Vista, and that will take
a couple of years. The new Money would be Vista only.

Bruce.

"Jeff M" <jamacq[at]gmail.com> wrote in message
news:905c2d89-bbda-4625-ba97-32e8a3e2cf31[at]f47g2000hsd.googlegroups.com...

- quote -

Would you care to elaborate?

- quote -

Why should they do more than they currently do? With Money gone they'd
have even less incentive.

- quote -

Why? Not a challenge, just looking for insight.
--
Chris Cowles
Gainesville, FL

"Quicken's U.S. market share rose to 80 percent in the first 11 months
of this year from 72 percent in 2006. Microsoft Money's share of sales
declined to 19 percent from 25 percent in the prior year, according to
NPD."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1852751820071219


"Jamie" <Jlawson01[at]OMITTHIS.lear.com> wrote in message
news:#7PAqvcXIHA.4896[at]TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
- quote -

I think Money has reached a point where they have a majority of the market.
I could be wrong but this is my opinion. I think Microsoft is using this
leverage to get more of the sale in their pocket instead of sharing it with
the middle men. They are doing this now with Vista. With the different
versions available they completely cut out the middle man when a user wants
to upgrade. The future is internet distribution so why not start slowly
pushing it?



Yes I think there will be more versions of money offline and online. One
thing to note about internet services, your money file contains a vast
knowledge of financial information and I think a lot of people would feel
uncomfortable using an online application service for this even if the data
was stored locally. So yes I do feel that the offline application will
still exist and continue to be offered for a long time.



"Guy" <Guy[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:722662AC-B44F-4161-9AE6-EB881ADB8B16[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

On Jan 22, 8:25*pm, Steve <sjcohen...[at]aol.com> wrote:
- quote -

I wouldn't be surprised if perhaps they stopped the annual new
releases and eventually went to something like a minor annual download
update to the product in order to update tax info or new banking
partners, etc. Recent releases have had very few feature enhancements
and so the primary reason to upgrade has been to obtain bug fixes and
renewed extended download time for the product. If they did this,
they could perhaps concentrate some effort on major upgrades every
three or so years and provide maintenance updates by download in
between. Perhaps this year was a test to see how many of us dedicated
users would go the download route.

I personally wouldn't care if they supported the product in this way.

Also, if the worst happens and it does go away, I've experimented with
how to get data over to Quicken and have found that while it takes
some time, it can be done reasonably well. I also believe that if the
rug were pulled out from under us, Quicken would likely come out with
something that would make it a little easier for us to switch.

I've experimented a few times with Quicken and originally was a
Quicken user many years ago. I like Money much better and hope that
it continues and do not intend to switch until there is absolutely no
other option through Money.

Jeff

We cannot get Money 2008 in stores i Canada

"Chris Cowles" wrote:

- quote -

"Marilyn & Bob" <Privacy[at]nospam.please> wrote in message
news:esTJMyXXIHA.1164[at]TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
- quote -


Best Buy has it for $20 in-store price with Taxcut Premium Fed +
State. Walmart used to sell it outright for $20.
--
Chris Cowles
Gainesville, FL

The lack of cross promos actually started last year. One of the reasons
that happened probably is that most of the cross promos offered Money
Standard as their freebie. When M$ discontinued Money Standard in 2007 only
the stores like Staples that had been giving away Money Deluxe with TaxCut
kept up the rebates.
--
Peace,
BobJ

"Dick Watson" <littlegreengecko[at]mind-enufalready-spring.com> wrote in
message news:udtXkQWXIHA.5208[at]TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
- quote -

I have noticed many of the same things you have. I was particularly aware in
last Sunday's newspaper inserts how many TurboTax ads cross-promo'd Quicken
and how few (one?) ads for TaxCut cross-promo'd Money. This is not what we
have seen in the past. It has been relatively scarce but not impossible to
find at retail. Note also the new addition to the online services policy
that eludes to a possible future service offering of extensions.

What does it all mean? Only time will tell...

"Steve" <sjcohen730[at]aol.com> wrote in message
news:ad49bff3-cf17-4eb7-a7cb-837d8df286d1[at]c4g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

In microsoft.public.money, Steve wrote:

- quote -

Yes, there has been more emphasis on the download.

Still, what stores are you looking at? Best Buy and others have it
with rebate offers. I saw it at Sams at a good price without rebate.

Try entering Microsoft Money into the search box at Staples.

I have been an active user of Money since 1995. I've updated each year
and maintain ALL my financial data,planning, investments, etc. on the
program. It seems apparent to me that Money Plus, the 2008 version of
the program is NOT being pushed in the retail stores this year. The
only access I've seen or read about it in my area is to get the
product via download. Now, with the tax programs being advertised, it
seems like only Quicken is being bundled. I think the handwriting is
on the wall and that Microsoft is slowing going to phase out the Money
product.

For the regular contributors here, what is YOUR opinion? Do you think
we will actually see new and updated versions of Money in the future?

Thanks.
Steve