More discussion on this subject in http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6129_102-638436/attack-the-turbotax-quicken-empire/
Locking this one.
Kees
Intuit has such a scam going now, that I think there's a INSTANT market waiting for some smart programmer: they could bankrupt Intuit by creating a good SUBSCRIPTION-based PFS ("personal financial software") product. It needs to be rev'd/updated online, and include a built-in IRS interface for preparing & filing online tax returns.
Here's my story: I've had Quicken since ver. 5 ... no, not "Quicken 2005", but the 1980's early product. In the'80's, Quicken was the only PFS that made online banking possible. And I've bought TurboTax Deluxe every year since it came out because it usually 'works seamlessly' (sort of) with Quicken.
But I hate being a captive consumer, so I've occasionally tried other Tax s/w (HRB, etc.), but by filing time, have always come back to TTax: others couldn't match TTax/Quicken clean & easy tax preps.
I also tried MS Money ( Quicken's only real competition EVER) and other PFS , but it was never 'user friendly' AND reliable. Now Intuit is making their two products less & less compatable, less & less reliable, and more & more expensive.
I've been retired since '02, and the complexity of my returns has decreased, yet the TTax Deluxe version can no longer handle my returns, necessitating the more costly TTax versions. And each year, the last year's version of Quicken is less compatible with any of the current year's TTax versions.
I will be happy to donate my time to suggest, consult, analyze, test & help market such a product. With MS Money discontinued, maybe that code is available cheap!?!? Maybe someone in China will read this....or in Sheboygan?