Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Quicken moving to subscription model
Old 02-07-2017, 10:04 AM   #1
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 69
Quicken moving to subscription model

Link below is article from PC World magazine:
Quicken shifts to software subscription model, but there's a big catch | PCWorld

Subscription model already started in Canada and will be coming to US soon. As a long time Quicken user, I'm not happy about this. Now I'll have to pay yearly for many things I don't want or need (sounds like my cable service). Also, if you don't pay the subscription, you can't enter any new transactions, even manual transactions. Essentially your database is frozen in time.
__________________
Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing. -- Euripides
The Rodent is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 02-07-2017, 10:50 AM   #2
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 4,366
While I can see making downloads a subscription, there is no real value to a subscription for the basic budgeting and tracking features. Their yearly updates have provided nearly no value to what I originally had years ago. It's pretty much a static problem. Certainly anyone who doesn't require downloaded transactions would find it cheaper to use a buy-it-once program.

Another good opportunity to look at what else is available.
Animorph is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 10:53 AM   #3
Moderator
rodi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: San Diego
Posts: 14,140
They will lose me as a user, then. I've been annoyed, but semi-tolerant, of the forced 3 year upgrade. But I *abhor* subscription models for software...

Can they do more than "sunset" the existing programs? In other words - I own a version (2016 home and business) and it is set up to sunset (stop allowing one step updates) 3 years after I purchased. But I would still be able to download quicken files from my bank/brokerage/cc company and import it into quicken. Are they going to disallow that when the sunset happens? That would be CHANGING the functionality as it now exists on a product I purchased.
__________________
Retired June 2014. No longer an enginerd - now I'm just a nerd.
micro pensions 6%, rental income 20%
rodi is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 10:55 AM   #4
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 37,931
I'll be limping along with Quicken 2007 as long as I can. I have the latest update. It seems to run on my new MacBook with El Capitan just fine.

I'll just have to be careful about updates.

In general, I would be happy to pay for a (not too pricey) subscription model IF the current version had all the capability of the 2007 Mac version. But they never did create something that would replaced it. I hope they still rue the day they dropped development for Mac.
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 11:00 AM   #5
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
easysurfer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 13,127
I've defected away from Quicken many years ago. For me, I really don't need anything more than a very simple budgeting program without any bells and whistles, like the way Quicken was at the beginning.
__________________
Have you ever seen a headstone with these words
"If only I had spent more time at work" ... from "Busy Man" sung by Billy Ray Cyrus
easysurfer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 11:00 AM   #6
Full time employment: Posting here.
FIREmenow's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 756
Quote:
Originally Posted by Animorph View Post
While I can see making downloads a subscription, there is no real value to a subscription for the basic budgeting and tracking features. Their yearly updates have provided nearly no value to what I originally had years ago. It's pretty much a static problem. Certainly anyone who doesn't require downloaded transactions would find it cheaper to use a buy-it-once program.

Another good opportunity to look at what else is available.
It is likely the first step towards a cloud-based, client-server model. I use YNAB and they went to this last year.

Contrary to your value argument for the PC application, a cloud-based model has a MAJOR impact on cost reductions on their end.

Not necessarily a proponent, but its the way everything is moving, like it or not.
__________________
Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” ― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
FIREmenow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 11:12 AM   #7
Moderator
Walt34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,290
Quote:
Originally Posted by rodi View Post
They will lose me as a user, then.
Perhaps the same here. I'm still using the 2010 software, I assume that will be unaffected. With much reluctance I went with Adobe's subscription model of Lightroom and Photoshop ($10/month) but use them a lot. If Quicken goes that way then I'll stay with the 2010 version for as long as it works, then find something else.
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
Walt34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 11:50 AM   #8
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
easysurfer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 13,127
Quote:
From the article:

The restriction is no different than what other subscription services place on customers. Users who stop paying for Office 365, for instance, can no longer create new or edit existing documents.

But the idea that they could not continue to track finances by manually entering transactions fueled push-back from Quicken customers.
"If the subscription isn't renewed, manual access and updates to the data need to be allowed, otherwise the company will be perceived to be holding the customer's data hostage," argued Dan Glynhampton in a message posted to a Quicken support forum.

"Quicken is supposed to help me manage my finances, not prevent me from managing my finances," added mshiggins on the same thread.
When a Quicken representative intervened on the forum to say that the only real difference between a subscription and the older licensed software is "that manual transactions can't be added" when the former expires, users were quick to respond.

"If at the point the subscription ends my data essentially becomes frozen in time then that makes the program absolutely useless to me," asserted Perculiar_Investor.
Is it just me, but doesn't the shake down subscription model of pay up or your data frozen in time sound a bit like ransomware?
__________________
Have you ever seen a headstone with these words
"If only I had spent more time at work" ... from "Busy Man" sung by Billy Ray Cyrus
easysurfer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 11:51 AM   #9
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 37,931
We won't use anything cloud based that has our financial data on someone else's server (other than our financial institutions, that is.)

I've managed to stay away from Adobe's subscription model. Fortunately I got all the software I wanted in time. But I had not problem upgrading to Lightroom 6 and still keeping the non-subscription model. There may have been a magic place to navigate to on some adobe.com screen that I found out about on various chat rooms.
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 11:52 AM   #10
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 37,931
Quote:
Originally Posted by easysurfer View Post
Is it just me, but doesn't the shake down subscription model of pay up or no data sound a bit like ransomware?
Well, pay up or you can't enter any new transactions sounds like ransomware.
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 11:54 AM   #11
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
easysurfer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 13,127
Quote:
Originally Posted by audreyh1 View Post
Well, pay up or you can't enter any new transactions sounds like ransomware.
I updated my original post to make it more accurate like what you mentioned.
__________________
Have you ever seen a headstone with these words
"If only I had spent more time at work" ... from "Busy Man" sung by Billy Ray Cyrus
easysurfer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 11:57 AM   #12
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 37,931
Like Rodi mentioned, it seems like that would require modification of the existing software that you already purchased.

So beware any "updates".
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 12:02 PM   #13
Full time employment: Posting here.
FIREmenow's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 756
Quote:
Originally Posted by audreyh1 View Post
We won't use anything cloud based that has our financial data on someone else's server (other than our financial institutions, that is.)

I've managed to stay away from Adobe's subscription model. Fortunately I got all the software I wanted in time. But I had not problem upgrading to Lightroom 6 and still keeping the non-subscription model. There may have been a magic place to navigate to on some adobe.com screen that I found out about on various chat rooms.
They don't really "have" your data if it is encrypted and the only salted and hashed key is in your possession.

Here are YNAB's policies:

Quote:
Your YNAB account password is one-way salted and hashed using multiple iterations of a key derivation function for passwords. (Those sound like made up words, but these are best practices!) Even if someone were to steal the YNAB database of passwords, they would not know your password and would be forced to (very slowly!) guess every possible password in order to find it.

We prevent brute force attacks where a password is guessed multiple times in a row. We also help you choose stronger passwords by 1) requiring that passwords be eight characters or longer, and 2) specifically preventing you from using the top 2,085 most commonly used passwords. (It’s quite an interesting list, should you choose to Google it.)

Your data is encrypted at rest when stored on our servers. That means that even IF someone could break in and steal the hard drives where your data is stored, they couldn’t read it. Also, should you (sadly) choose to delete your YNAB account, all of your budget data is completely and irreversibly removed from the YNAB database. We do not simply mark your account as inactive. We completely destroy all account data. (To be clear, you explicitly request this nuclear deletion. If you happen to let your account lapse accidentally, we don’t assume you mean DESTROY ALL MY DATA. That’d be a horrible assumption.)
It's another "sleep at night" issue that will come with time and sheer numbers of participants....
__________________
Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” ― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
FIREmenow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 12:03 PM   #14
Moderator Emeritus
W2R's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,467
Quote:
Originally Posted by rodi View Post
They will lose me as a user, then. I've been annoyed, but semi-tolerant, of the forced 3 year upgrade. But I *abhor* subscription models for software...
I agree completely - - I will NOT get subscription software and if I was a Quicken customer, that would be the end of it for me.

I just feel SO lucky that I never liked Quicken. Actually I bought it a few years ago, because so many here like it and this is a pretty smart group. But for me, it wasn't a good solution. I didn't like it at all. I prefer the flexibility and capability for customization that I have with Excel. I just input data manually since for me, that only takes about 10 seconds or so I guess. Different strokes and all that.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.

Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
W2R is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 12:04 PM   #15
Moderator
Walt34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,290
Quote:
Originally Posted by easysurfer View Post
Is it just me, but doesn't the shake down subscription model of pay up or your data frozen in time sound a bit like ransomware?
It does if the file is of a proprietary nature i.e., only that software can read it. In Lightroom the files are not proprietary but in Photoshop the .psd files (I think) are. But you can still read/edit them if not too advanced in the cheaper Photoshop Elements software, which is not subscription.

And of course in Lightroom or Photoshop you can export anything to one of several open-source files such as .jpg.
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
Walt34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 12:17 PM   #16
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 12,890
I moved away from Quicken last year, no regrets. I switched to iBank (now Banktivity). I do not recommend it either. I inexplicably lost 4 months of data with this software. So I am back to using spreadsheets. I miss Quicken's powerful reporting feature, but we simplified our finances a lot since DW retired so it is no big loss.
FIREd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 01:30 PM   #17
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
euro's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 2,301
Quote:
Originally Posted by Walt34 View Post
Perhaps the same here. I'm still using the 2010 software, I assume that will be unaffected. With much reluctance I went with Adobe's subscription model of Lightroom and Photoshop ($10/month) but use them a lot. If Quicken goes that way then I'll stay with the 2010 version for as long as it works, then find something else.
Same here - I use SOME tools a lot but A LOT of the tools I don;t use at all. As someone pointed out, it's like the TimeWarner Deluxe package...

I'll be moving to something else as soon as I can't function without the Q subscription
euro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 01:41 PM   #18
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
zinger1457's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 3,221
I'll wait until 2019 when my Quicken 2016 online functions end to see how this all plays out. I don't see this subscription model as described being successful for Quicken.
zinger1457 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 01:44 PM   #19
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 37,931
Quote:
Originally Posted by FIREmenow View Post
They don't really "have" your data if it is encrypted and the only salted and hashed key is in your possession.


It's another "sleep at night" issue that will come with time and sheer numbers of participants....
You have to take their word for it, and that they have good IT security policies in place, and that employees don't easily get phished or go rogue.
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2017, 01:47 PM   #20
Moderator Emeritus
Ronstar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 16,543
I used Quicken a long time ago, then switched to a spreadsheet, then back to Quicken2015. I still use part of my old spreadsheet because I can't get Quicken to produce reports the way I want. I plan on using my current Quicken as long as it works. I have no intention of moving to a subscription model. Quicken as it is now isn't good enough to justify the subscription cost.
Ronstar is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Family Handyman Magazine Subscription $5 travelover Other topics 4 11-20-2012 08:54 PM
Retirement Weekly subscription braumeister FIRE and Money 2 07-01-2011 08:18 AM
TV subscription alternatives Martha Other topics 39 01-21-2011 12:33 PM
How to end "Subscription to Thread" dex Forum Admin 1 04-28-2009 11:33 AM
Magazine Subscription mickeyd Other topics 12 08-09-2008 03:10 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:32 PM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.