Downloading brokerage transactions: a follow-up

"I recently called Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to inquire about support for Quicken 2002 for Macintosh, and was told the following:

Morgan Stanley was in the process of developing an OFX server to allow full-service clients to download transactions from their ClientServ web page into Quicken and Microsoft Money. As part of that process, they were undergoing certification for Quicken 2002 for Macintosh.

The Sept. 11 events at the World Trade Center destroyed the OFX server, which was still being tested, putting the entire project into arrears, and apparently they are still recovering back-ups, and are re-testing everything, to make sure no programming changes were lost. As far as the representative I spoke to was aware, certification for the Mac is still being planned, but is unlikely to happen until after the first of the year.

I was also told that Morgan Stanley Online--the division of MSDW that used to be Discover Brokerage--will likely (and unfortunately) not be certified for Quicken 2002 Mac until after the completion of a merger of back-office operations with Morgan Stanley ClientServ. This was also delayed due to the attacks on the World Trade Center, which was a big base of operations for MSDW.

So while the number of investment institutions allowing Mac clients to download transactions is still sparse, there are some that do recognize that a signficant number of their clients do prefer Macs to Microsoft. While the process is happening more slowly than I'd like to see, I'm willing to take MSDW at their word and stick around for awhile."