How can Quicken still suck?
Quicken has been around since 1775. It is in version #2,356. How can it still have stupid, irritating, data-swallowing bugs in it?
Using the latest version, I have in the past ten minutes hit three bugs.
1. Write a check to an online payee for whom you use the curly braces to embed a hint that’s invisible to the recipient. E.g., You might have an account such as “Cingular {The mother-effing home account}.” Press “Record Check” because you’re done. Quicken pops up a reminder that the stuff in curly braces won’t appear on the check. I’ve been getting that message for 176 years, which is fine. The problem is that after you click on the message’s OK button, every time it gives you the same message again. Now that‘s annoying.
2. Start to fill in a check. Choose one of the memorized transactions. It fills in the name. Have a moment of doubt about the name. So, go to the list of online accounts and check out the name. It’s fine. Go back to the check-writing window. You get a dialog box that says “You have changed the last transaction you were viewing. Save it now?” Yes, no, or cancel. Since you want to fill it in, you don’t want to save it yet. You also don’t want to not save it. You want to cancel the dialogue box. Press Cancel. You get the same dialog again. The Cancel button is a no-op.
3. This is the REALLY annoying one, but I’m not sure I remember the exact sequence. It goes something like this: Fill in a check’s name and click on Split so you can enter multiple entries because you’re trying to pay off a credit card. (Oops, make sure you fill in an amount first or else it won’t let you get to the Split window, even though you may want to fill in the entries and have Quicken figure out the amount. Oh well.) Spend ten minutes filling in the entries. (Be sure to consolidate some of the entries because after 4,000 years of existence, Quicken still arbitrarily limits splits to 30 entries.) It’s a pain in the neck but the tax folks need to know the breakdown. Press the “Adjust” button so that the amount of the check equals the sum of the entries. Perfect! Now you’re back at the check writing window. Type your account info into the memo area of the check. Click “Record Check.” You get a dialog box telling you that the check’s total does not match the sum of the entries even though you are 100% certain that you pressed the “Adjust” button. Click on “Split” so you can re-press the Adjust button. Quicken has now replaced all the entries with the entries from the previous check you wrote to that account.
4. Say aaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!
Categories: Uncategorized dw
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Sucks
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