November 22, 2019
Learning To Love The “New” Quicken
Quicken, a personal finance management software created by Intuit, is the most common personal financial package in use, bar none. For many years, throughout all the various flavors, it has retained pretty much the same user interface. Of course, it has chucked in a few bells and whistles along the way but has kept a similar look and feel despite new versions and updates.
Of course, all good things eventually come to an end; the final version of “Quicken Classic” was released to be compatible with Mac OS X.7 (Lion) in 2011. A few years later, the “New Quicken” was launched – with a totally different interface. Longtime users were outraged at the difference, and a backlash ensued.
But some hung onto the original software – and an upgrade for Intel-based Macs allowed users to keep their old software going. But, with the change to Mac OS.15 (Catalina), it’s all over for those holdouts. No longer will legacy versions of Quicken run.
OK, two things about Quicken: First of all, nothing is certain in life except death, taxes and Mac OS updates, so the “legacy” version (the one with the yellow/orange icon) will no longer run on any Mac OS post-Mojave (OS X.14). If you’re using it and the familiar interface, you will have to freeze your Mac in time and no longer participate in any future OS updates.
Now, if you’ve bitten the bullet and have upgraded to the “new” Quicken (the one with the red and white icon), you don’t necessarily have to worry about post-Mojave compatibility, so you can breathe easy, at least for now.
But what you DO have to concern yourself with, is the inability to sync your bank account to your Quicken file, if you opt not to pay the annual subscription fee*. Intuit, following the lead of Adobe and Microsoft, have opted to make an important part of its service a yearly subscription. The good news? You can still use your Quicken without it – but you’ll have to do a little more work yourself. Me, I like to balance my accounts manually – letting it happen automatically makes me become complacent, and I might miss some transactions.
* Intuit is constantly offering “deals” to subscribe, so don’t pay bust-out retail!