Customer Reviews

Microsoft Money 2003 Standard [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I purchased MS Money 2003. After opening the box, I discovered this little sheet inside it that said "Expiration of Certain Features" and basically explained that the most useful feature i.e. "Online quotes" will expire one year from activation requiring me to purchase MS Money 2004 or continue to use a piece of software that is pretty much useless.

I have been using MS Money for a couple of years (currently using Money 2002) but I will not install Money 2003 and will return the software. I would not recommend purchasing this software as it becomes useless after one year!

I would like Microsoft to remove this restriction on MS Money 2003 where certain features (actually the most useful features) expire in one year.

Upgraded from 99 to 2003 and have not regretted it.

Plus points:
1) nice reconciliation system that is much easier to use than it has been in the past
2) QIF import that does not duplicate transactions left right and center
3) nice GUI, with suitably toned down look and feel
4) good set of standard reports
5) nice integration with online services
6) great upgrade path/data take on from 99

Minus points:
1) sponsorship/logos
2) sometimes complains of an error with online downloading but does not seem to have lost/missed any data

In addition YOU DO NOT NEED A PASSPORT to use the online services. I use online services and do not use a passport. I secure my money file with username and password as always.

All in all a robust product from MS and good value for money with the rebate. Definitely upgrade if you have a really old version of Money.

I've been using Quicken since 1995, and most recently upgraded to Quicken 2001. I never tried MS Money until recently, and was highly impressed! My hard disk died and my most recent quicken back-up was a month and a half old, so I thought after 7 years and some lost data, it was time to start fresh. So I downloaded the demo from microsoft to give it a try. Now I will never go back Quicken.
Money and Quicken are functionally equivalent, but Money is MUCH more customizable. Money is a bit annoying at first with asking for a Passport Id, and links to MSN, but these can be easilly turned off, deleted, or ignored. Money also has more reporting, charts and graphs than Quicken, as well as many more options. Money's interface is also cleaner, and simpler to use.

I was a big fan of Money over Quicken. The best thing about Money was downloading your statement from the bank and having the transactions match themselves. You could reconcile your statement in less than 5 to 10 minutes. That was with Money 1999.
Unfortunately, current versions of Money have a problem with transaction matching. The logic they use is not as good as previous versions. Now I spend up to a half hour or more manually matching and unmatching mismatched transactions. If you have a previous version of Money you would be better off keeping it.(Microsoft knows about this problem and doesn't seem to have any intention of fixing it. Refer to Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 317457.)

I wasn't too sure if I wanted to switch from Quicken to MS Money, so I downloaded the trial from Microsoft's website ...As a recent user of Quicken, I wanted to see if Money was worth shelling out for my new, home-built PC. Being on a LAN, it was a relatively quick download. Installing it was where the interesting stuff began.

Money doesn't let you run the first-time-setup wizard more than once. I had two credit cards and one checking account, and I didn't have the latest statements handy when I was installing it. So when I tried to modify my accounts later on, I was completely bemused. In comparison, my Quicken program lets me run a wizard each time I want to add an account--great when I got a new credit card after installing the program.

Money also does something I don't like--it adds a lot of shortcuts to your desktop--at least three at last count. It also added a sort of "Live Money" taskbar button. I don't know what other people tend to do, but all I want in a financial program is finance tracking. I want to see where my money went and whether I'll have enough money at the end of the month, without having to log onto 3 different websites and doing some math. I don't want my financial program to link itself to my MSN Passport and connect to MSN Money unless I tell it to, and sadly, Money doesn't tell me that I have a choice in the matter.

I suppose if I were more inclined to fiddle around with the settings, sooner or later I would find a way to turn it off. But I would prefer to be asked before it's done. Just a quibble.

Money's pretty, and offers a lot of intergration with MSN Money if you like that sort of thing. It's sort of unfamiliar eye candy, but worth a look. And with the rebates [offered], it's much cheaper than Intuit's offering. That said, I still prefer Quicken for quick familiarity and the layout's ease-of-use. Let's not make me take a class just to learn to use my financial software, Microsoft. Good job, but you can do even better.

This is one of the most "usable" MS products out there. Complain all you want about their business practices, licensing policies or whatever, someone on the Money team really knows how to design a useful tool and an intelligible UI at the same time.

It's hard to say your really excited about an upcoming software release and still keep a straight face. Still, I couldn't wait to pop up the hood and have a look at Money 2003. Perhaps it's a case of expecting a really great product to be somehow greatly better, but I was disapointed to find more or less the same thing.

One improvement I noticed is better reconciliation of imported statements - something that still remains a little off. Despite this and a coule other positive tweaks here and there, I'd wait to upgrade to v2003 if you're anticipating something "greatly better".

On the other hand, if you really want to keep up with the Gates's, or you can't resist the rebate (both reasons I fell prey to), then by all means have at it. This is a great product from someone who really know what they're doing.

* Note: I don't use Money's (MSN) online services, so this review only applies to the desktop app.

Overall I'm pleased with my purchase of Money Standard 2003. It's a very useful tool. The account register allows for categorization of all transactions, which produces interesting reports on how all your money was spent and the bills section makes sure you won't forget to pay those many bills on time. However, if you read the fine print on the bottom of the box you'll notice that it says that portfolio quotes downloading functionality and the ability to synchronize your data with MSN Money expire 1 year from first use of Microsoft Money Standard or September 1, 2004, whichever is earliest. Now what is the point of that?! It sounds like part of the software becomes useless after a year. But since I will have gotten it for free after rebates (not counting the time value of money), I suppose I can't complain too much.

I was going to purchase the Microsoft Money Standard because it's free after the TaxCut rebate, but I discovered that with the promotional rebates being offered by Amazon.com (expires 2/28/2003) and Microsoft, the Deluxe version of Microsoft Money is less than the Taxcut rebate amount. So make the most of all those rebates and purchase the Deluxe version instead!

I think that this version of MS Money is good in the fact that it has become more task based and it has a lot more fuctionality with the MS Office programs. I also have found that it is a bit faster the some of the previous versions. The few things that I do not like about it however, are really just personal preference. I don't like the fact that they have gotten rid of a large portion of the customizations for the home page. I also found when I was pulling my tax information for this year, that the reports were not the same as the previous version and I had to build my own. Other then that, I think that it is a good peice of software.

Overall, I'm very happy with what I've figured out thus far. I'm sure the program is very powerful, but it really lacks useful documentation. Instructions on what each individual field means are fine, but those don't tell me how or when I should use specific features of the software.

NOTE: Before thinking Money enables you to be 100% online, check Microsoft's Money web site to see if your banks and other financial institutions are supported!