Quicken 2005 Premier [Old Version] review:5 stars (it works fine...) - I was still on version 2001 when I received an email notice from quicken saying they were discontinuing support for this version, including the download of quotes to my portfolio.

I was rather upset by that, as Q 2001 worked perfectly for me... and also rather impressed. I will suggest this method to my company, i.e. tell to client they have to upgrade version of our applications, because soon we won't send data any more to old versions... that's a very good business model... for the seller anyway.

Having read all the negative reviews about Q 2005, I was a bit anxious when I did the upgrade... But Everything worked fine... the new version managed to import without any problems all the data from Q 2001.. Having move from 2001 to 2005 in one jump, I found that the user interface is drastically better... I like the possibility to call the report directly from the toolbar. and also to rename/aggregate easily vendor names into a single name, as I am using a few online vendors which keep changing their denominations/names...

All in all, a very good product... So far, the only thing missing is the lack of capacity for donwloading/accessing quote/historical price for non US stocks.1 stars (Quicken & Quicken support have gone down hill) - Quicken used to be an easy product to use but over the last few years each successive upgrade has become more user unfriendly. Methods of entry are changed without notice and with little or no help support. The product is becoming more oriented to Intuit's online businesses and basic, simple features are disappearing. Menus and online pages offer to sell you more Intuit services.

Year-over-year updates delete or change features and leave it to you to figure out what they have done. User support is inadequate and confusing. They even go so far as to label self-serving product changes (capability deletions) as enhancements. A good example is the removal of the QIF format import/export capability for investment data without providing a comparable capability. This results in the loss of an ability to transfer or merge investment transactions. Quicken says that using a QIF file was a "poor customer experience". They changed the product to only use a format that works with their online download despite the fact that it also deleted the ability to move transactions about on your PC. It appears their "poor experience" with having a feature with some cross-product capability was traded for a "feature" that limits you to Quicken at the expense of leaving you a "no capability experience".

Detailed documentation, particularly of changes, is lacking. Online chat user support is limited; personnel are untrained on items and recommend that you call for live telephone help. You quickly find out that live telephone "support" is a profit center at $24.95 a call. Paying them $24.95 to explain that they deleted a useful feature because they didn't think it was needed is a typical Quicken experience. 2 stars (Every release worse than the last.) - I've been a Quicken user from day one. Prior to 2002, I used to upgrade virtually every year. I've done this reluctantly because with each upgrade, some feature or report I use frequently gets axed in the new and improved version. In the last 4 years I've returned two releases (2003 and 2004) because of my disgust with Intuit's penchant for making the program more difficult for me to use. I read most of the reviews posted for Premier 2005 and agree with the consensus that Intuit just can't seem to get it right.

All Intuit seems to have done in the last 4 or 5 releases is to change the look and feel of the software at the expense of ease of use. There's nothing materially "better" in this release but entering investment transactions became a downright pain in the behind.

examples:
Can't cut and paste inside the check writing window (admittedly, not a frequently used feature, but gone).

Stock transactions now pop up a much less user friendly entry window. The older 2002 version of register based entry was much easier to use.

Want to reconcile that brokerage account? You really gotta hunt for this command. Why, for Pete's sake, isn't there a command, button or icon anywhere on the window with the register?

Done reconciling and want to check the account value for the date of your statement? In 2002, you were sent to the portfolio view after reconciling with the "As of" date of the view set to the statement date you used in the reconcile. Not anymore. Now you are sent back to the TOP OF the register. Were you needing to enter another transaction, you would have to scroll down to the bottom. So, you click to the Summary Page instead. This displays the current date in the "As of" the Holdings window. You must change the date to go to your statement date. Also, the Holdings window in the Summary Page is annoyingly small and won't allow you to expand it, forcing you to go back to the Portfoio Window anyway to easily see what you need to see.

I'm so heavily entrenched into Quicken that I'm stuck (Money tells me if finds conversion errors - but won't specify what they are). I will have to live with 2005, but would have stayed with 2002 to keep the simplified register based entry for stock transactions.

I could go on and on but you'll see enough complaints posted here.

Prior to 2002 I bought the upgrades every year. Now, I'll stick it out for as many years as possible to prevent further erosion of features I've grown accustomed to.

If you're a casual user and only need to cut checks, get the basic version - or try MS Money. If you're a power user, hold off until the tone of these reviews improves.

Caveat Emptor
Quicken 2005 Premier [Old Version] Features:
Computer software (programs)
Accounting (Account)
Personal Finance (Financial)
Invest (Investment)
CD
View average annual return for entire portfolio and individual accounts
Optimize investments, monitor worth, and view complete financial picture
Instantly connect to bank and credit card sites with a push of a button
Easy-to-use investment area looks just like a broker statement
Track investment holdings; intelligent and tax-smart investing insights

Quicken 2005 Premier [Old Version] is the CD-ROM version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 79.95USD.