Complications with "academic" software

[Craiglc1]

I need to buy Quickbooks pro 2007 and the stuff is all over ebay like pigeon crap in New York. I see people selling the academic version claiming it is the same as retail but priced for students. Technically as a business if I use it it is "piracy" I have two questions.....

1. Anyone think the academic version is any different from the full retail version despite what the ads say?

2. On the same lines as number one....Would intuit even know when I go to register iwth them? I use it for payroll so I need to get the updated tax tables quarterly.

Will to listen to other random thoughts to.

 

[ddrueding]

Academic is the same as full retail, they wouldn't know and likely don't care.

 

[P5-133XL]

Academic version == the full version, only cheaper. Once it has been purchased, no one cares. The retailer is supposed to check for qualification, before sale, but that almost never happens: Especially over the internet.

Beware of people selling trial versions as cheap full/academic versions: I've run into two people that fell for that one ....

 

[Bozo]

Academic is the same as full retail, they wouldn't know and likely don't care.

Ditto

Bozo :joker:

 

[Mercutio]

Uh, thirded, I think.

 

[sechs]

Academic versions sometimes have little differences that may or may not matter.

For example, some companies make academic software unupgradeable. This means that you have to buy a full version to upgrade.

 

[Will Rickards]

I worry the academic version won't update the tax tables or do online updates or similar. Intuit obsoleted the online downloading of my bank information from quicken 2004. You would think that process does not even involve intuit. But sure enough they but a timebomb or something in the software to practically force you to upgrade.

 

[Mercutio]

Intuit is a little bitch. I try to convince as many people as I can not to suck at that particular teat. It does no good. EVERYONE uses Quickbooks. But windmills are better for the jousting, and so I keep trying.

 

[ddrueding]

Out of curiosity, what do you push instead, Merc?

 

[Fushigi]

Peachtree is still around. IIRC there's some OSS small business accounting as well. For personal use there's even Microsoft Money.

I fully agree with Merc's opinion on Intuit. They have the nasty habit of forcing upgrades and making standard, free features optional subscription-fee based features in new versions.

WRT data feeds from banks to Quicken/books, Intuit changes financial institutions something like $20K for a license to use their data format. This forces a lot of small banks and credit unions to not offer data feeds.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Student/Education edition had a crippled feature set or a built-in expiration date.

Intuit is one of the most-complained-about companies @ gripe2ed.com. Complaints go back further than the TurboTax product activation/DRM debacle a few years ago. That particular issue made me a loyal TaxCut user.

 

[Mercutio]

Out of curiosity, what do you push instead, Merc?

Nothing wrong with Peachtree. It has worked for a lot of companies for a long, long time. There's also Cougar Mountain. I have one customer that uses it.

Microsoft has a bunch of financial packages as well. I don't know how well any of them work, but in this particular case I think MS would be the lesser of evils.