[NA]Latest Quickbooks revenue stream treachery[NA]

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
In 2001 I purchased and owned a (mostly) fully-functioning 2001QB and it served pretty well for 15 years.
By 2016 they had "sunsetted"(wth?) my version and I decided I needed another feature so I paid the $700? or so to get 2016QB Premier Desktop 5-user version, plus I bought Enhanced Payroll (btw I just spent 2 weeks fixing their errors and paying IRS fines because it calculated payroll wrong in two areas - so my 941s, 940, and W2, W3s were all wrong, and I had to calculate and submit the -c versions of each form but I am over it and have not ranted about the time and expense too much).

So it is 3 years later and I am told they will no longer support 2016 (wth again?) and I must buy the 2019.

It sure looks like they plan to go to "You can't buy our product outright anymore; you have to subscribe to it" ie pay monthly to use the thing (thus guaranteeing their $$$ flow).
(I sometimes feel like my payments are being used to fix their software goofs -like the sales tax issue I have egregiously neglected to rant about-, as I see no improvements or upgrades anywhere in the program)

Ya, I don't have to use their product I know - I am looking at alternatives now.
Ya, I should realize that is the wave of the future, subscription- based not outright ownership.
Ya, I should use their online version anyway - I don't have a reliable enough connection to do that plus I hear of weaknesses in that.
Just let me have my little rant, I'll be fine in a few (minutes) years.
/rant (or maybe not, depends on how well this scotch works)
 
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Quicken went that way a year or two ago. It sucks.

For as much as you are paying for Quickbooks ,you definitely deserve a better product.
 
When I google QB desktop Premier 2019 5 user it says $379.
When I click on the button within the program it says $900 and that is only for 3 users, I am 5.
 
Wait until you hit the maximum records limit (arbitrary number) and have to upgrade even higher. I just write the check, run my business, and wait for a competitor to come along eventually.
 
I'm currently using Banktivity. I've been thinking about going back to Quicken since Banktivity's reports pretty much suck. Thanks for convincing me to stick with Banktivity. So far they're not on a subscription plan.
 
I just looked it up. 14,500 items is the max for the desktop version. We hit that after 8 years. So we were forced to go to Quickbooks Enterprise.

Enterprise allows neat features like Quickbooks upper management can buy fancy boats after you upgrade.
 
I use QB Pro 2016 for the Soaring club. Just got the notice about 2016 will no longer support changes to online banking etc. Don’t use it for that so no issues.

I did find a price for “subscription “ service or one time purchase for 2019 version. We don’t need the payroll function so do not pay for those modules.

Have not decided you which way to go. I hate subscription software.

How to find entry limits and how close are we to max?
 
“To see how many you have, open your company in QuickBooks and then press the F2 key. In the right-hand column of information, you’ll see your counts.”
 
They all suck.

I was looking to upgrade my Sage Businessworks package, got the quote from dealer it was $14,000....but if I bought it by end of week only $8,000. This is some used car carnival shuckster BS.

Did I mention we only paid around $1,000 for original version?

Criminals.
 
I still run the 2005 version of QB spun up on an xp vm. Still does what I need just fine. I'll have to check that max records thing though. Running out of records headroom would suck out loud.
 
In the "List Information" box, your number is 6,401. Ours is about 15,000. That's the number that you want to keep an eye on. Looks like you're not quite half way full.
 
It seems all software companies are going to the subscription based system, versus purchase. Far more profitable, than having to support a piece of software for years with no additional revenue to do so. I've heard rumor Microsoft will be following suit...
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
In 2001 I purchased and owned a (mostly) fully-functioning 2001QB ... Ya, I should realize that is the wave of the future, subscription- based not outright ownership.
Click to expand...
You have never owned any commercial software; you've purchased a license, with very few guarantees if you read the fine print.
I use many Adobe products, and don't mind the periodic fees, as I always have the latest version.
Disclaimer: I have written and sold commercial software, though mostly vertical market.
 
midwestpa24 said:
It seems all software companies are going to the subscription based system, versus purchase. Far more profitable, than having to support a piece of software for years with no additional revenue to do so. I've heard rumor Microsoft will be following suit...
Click to expand...

Microsoft has been following suit for years . . . Office 365 is subscription now, as are a number of other subscription services. When I purchased/built my recent desktop, I had to go download OpenOffice in order to open spreadsheets that I'd created a decade ago in Office 2007. I wasn't going to bother paying a subscription for Office on a home computer which doesn't need any "features" that weren't available in Excel/PP/Word in 2003.
 
I had this happen with a few apps. It is particularly egregious to me when it isn't simply a company not supporting the product anymore for whatever reason (bankruptcy, discontinued product line, etc), but rather a conscious act on behalf of the company to disable the product by means of a software update (that is really a poison pill to disable the existing product on customers computers). The malicious act of issuing an update to disable software sold to customers seems to me to be criminal (or ought to be if not). One particular aviation app developer did this to software I had purchased; I choose to never do business with this sort ever again.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
You have never owned any commercial software; you've purchased a license, with very few guarantees if you read the fine print.
I use many Adobe products, and don't mind the periodic fees, as I always have the latest version.
Disclaimer: I have written and sold commercial software, though mostly vertical market.
Click to expand...

I happily canceled my Adobe subscriptions and closed my account more than a year ago. With the exception of some server software (all of which is dirt cheap), I refuse to use subscription-based software.

One happy consequence was that I found software that I like a lot more than I ever did Adobe's products, with outright purchase licenses (occasionally with trivial fees for annual update subscriptions if I want the updates).

I like RapidPHP or WeBuilder (basically the same as RapidPHP, but with with additional language support) better than I ever liked Dreamweaver. I like Affinity Photo better than I ever liked Fireworks or Photoshop. I like Affinity Designer better than I ever liked Illustrator. I like Magix Move Edit Pro Premium about as much as I ever liked Premiere Pro, but it's much less expensive and more stable. Etcetera.

And just in case Microsoft ever goes to a subscription service for Windows, I have open-source Linux alternatives that work acceptably well for everything I do. Microsoft, too, can go to hell if they start pulling that subscription ****.

Rich
 
EdFred said:
We found out it was cheaper depending the number of employees that you have to just farm out the payroll. I can get you details later in the week if you like.
Click to expand...
We have about 50 employees and outsource our payroll management and some other hr functions. The big advantage is that it gives us way way better insurance for our employees then we would be getting directly on our own as a company.
 
We've used ADP since, oh maybe 50 employees. Doesn't answer the general accounting stuff, but all the payroll (multiple states, etc) is nicely done.
 
RJM62 said:
I happily canceled my Adobe subscriptions and closed my account more than a year ago. With the exception of some server software (all of which is dirt cheap), I refuse to use subscription-based software.

One happy consequence was that I found software that I like a lot more than I ever did Adobe's products, with outright purchase licenses (occasionally with trivial fees for annual update subscriptions if I want the updates).

I like RapidPHP or WeBuilder (basically the same as RapidPHP, but with with additional language support) better than I ever liked Dreamweaver. I like Affinity Photo better than I ever liked Fireworks or Photoshop. I like Affinity Designer better than I ever liked Illustrator. I like Magix Move Edit Pro Premium about as much as I ever liked Premiere Pro, but it's much less expensive and more stable. Etcetera.

And just in case Microsoft ever goes to a subscription service for Windows, I have open-source Linux alternatives that work acceptably well for everything I do. Microsoft, too, can go to hell if they start pulling that subscription ****.

Rich
Click to expand...

I use open source where I can too. Takes some work though. I just upgraded to Unbuntu 16.10. Let's just say Ubuntu is computer jargon for "we're only free if your time has no value."
 
FORANE said:
I had this happen with a few apps. It is particularly egregious to me when it isn't simply a company not supporting the product anymore for whatever reason (bankruptcy, discontinued product line, etc), but rather a conscious act on behalf of the company to disable the product by means of a software update (that is really a poison pill to disable the existing product on customers computers). The malicious act of issuing an update to disable software sold to customers seems to me to be criminal (or ought to be if not). One particular aviation app developer did this to software I had purchased; I choose to never do business with this sort ever again.
Click to expand...

We've run into this as well with a program used to run HVAC in a large commercial building. Either pay the subscription fee, or lose access to the HVAC controls. Bad part is from what our research suggests, there is basically a monopoly on this part of the market with one company holding a 95% market share.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
I use open source where I can too. Takes some work though. I just upgraded to Unbuntu 16.10. Let's just say Ubuntu is computer jargon for "we're only free if your time has no value."
Click to expand...

I don't mind paying for software if it's good software.

Paying for the same software forever, however, is another story.

I could do everything I need to do on open-source software. I did it a few weeks ago just to test that. I don't like some of the FOSS stuff as much as I like what I'm using now, but it would do. The programs I mentioned in the previous post, however, are excellent, come with perpetual licenses (in some cases with optional updates), are realistically-priced, and are therefore well worth the money; so I don't mind at all paying for them.

There also are commercial software products for Linux that I could buy; and if any software will work on Win7, I can probably make it work on WINE. So the day Microsoft wants to start charging me rent for Windows is the day I go back to only using Linux. I did it for several years back when Windows was unusable crap, and I can do it again if they want to go SaaS.

Rich
 
RJM62 said:
I happily canceled my Adobe subscriptions and closed my account more than a year ago. With the exception of some server software (all of which is dirt cheap), I refuse to use subscription-based software.

One happy consequence was that I found software that I like a lot more than I ever did Adobe's products, with outright purchase licenses (occasionally with trivial fees for annual update subscriptions if I want the updates).

I like RapidPHP or WeBuilder (basically the same as RapidPHP, but with with additional language support) better than I ever liked Dreamweaver. I like Affinity Photo better than I ever liked Fireworks or Photoshop. I like Affinity Designer better than I ever liked Illustrator. I like Magix Move Edit Pro Premium about as much as I ever liked Premiere Pro, but it's much less expensive and more stable. Etcetera.

And just in case Microsoft ever goes to a subscription service for Windows, I have open-source Linux alternatives that work acceptably well for everything I do. Microsoft, too, can go to hell if they start pulling that subscription ****.

Rich
Click to expand...
Ms made office a subscription based service awhile ago now. The OS has always been that way if you think about it.
 
FORANE said:
One particular aviation app developer did this to software I had purchased; I choose to never do business with this sort ever again.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you're referring to LogTenPro. Great software. Fortunately I got grandfathered for the desktop app. But they didn't grandfather the iThing apps, so it went to subscription. And if you upgraded the one, it didn't work with the other. So I don't do the iThing app anymore. If I had to pay a subscription for the desktop app, I'd say screw it and buy Parallels to run LogBookPro or whatever it's called.
 
Salty said:
Ms made office a subscription based service awhile ago now. The OS has always been that way if you think about it.
Click to expand...

Windows obsolesces and eventually sunsets. But it will keep running forever, in theory.

I haven't used MS Office in probably 15 years, other than occasionally at client locations. And mind you, I used to get it for free when I was an MS "partner." I always preferred StarOffice / OpenOffice.org / Apache OpenOffice / Libre Office. That's just a personal preference thing. I certainly wouldn't pay a subscription fee for MS Office. It actually amazes me that anyone does, to tell you the truth.

Rich
 
RJM62 said:
Windows obsolesces and eventually sunsets. But it will keep running forever, in theory.

I haven't used MS Office in probably 15 years, other than occasionally at client locations. And mind you, I used to get it for free when I was an MS "partner." I always preferred StarOffice / OpenOffice.org / Apache OpenOffice / Libre Office. That's just a personal preference thing. I certainly wouldn't pay a subscription fee for MS Office. It actually amazes me that anyone does, to tell you the truth.

Rich
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Try installing it on a new computer.
 
Salty said:
Try installing it on a new computer.
Click to expand...

I was able to install 2007 last summer/fall even though I'm not supposed to able to. Called MS Tech support, explained I have 5 licenses, and a new computer just crashed bad, and needed to do a factory reset. They gave me a special authorization code over the phone, even though the code in the box wouldn't work. 10 minutes later I was up and running
 
I've got QB 2015 ruining on my laptop. It no longer supports communications on-line, but I don't care. I'm a sole proprietor and the functionality that still works is gross overkill for my needs. I'll run it until I shut down the LLC.
 
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