Microsoft killing off Office Accounting product

Microsoft has decided that its Office Accounting product just doesn't add up.

The software maker said on Friday that it plans next month to stop distributing the accounting product line, ending the latest in a series of efforts to take on market leader Intuit.

The accounting product line was launched in 2005 amid some fanfare, but failed to grab much market share and was later pulled from retail shelves in favor of online-only sales.

"We continually evaluate our business strategies to make sure we're working to meet the needs of customers, partners and shareholders," Microsoft said on its Web site. "With that in mind, we have determined that existing free templates within Office used with Excel was a better option for small businesses, and the Microsoft Dynamics ERP products were appropriate for mid-range organizations."

The software maker said it will stop distributing its free Office Accounting Express as well as all of the paid Office Accounting product in the United States and United Kingdom.

Microsoft has been paring back a number of the efforts at the periphery of its product line, including mainstays such as Microsoft Money, which had long been second fiddle to Intuit's Quicken. The company has also discontinued its Windows Live OneCare security software.

Microsoft plans to continue supporting the Office Accounting product, although a number of related services are ending.

"Online sales from eBay and credit profile from Equifax will no longer be available after December 15, 2009," Microsoft said. "However, your customers will still be able to pay e-mailed invoices directly through PayPal. In addition, credit card processing services and the ability to order compatible checks and forms will still be available."

Those who have bought the product in the last 30 days can return it for a refund.

[lazycat202]

time to move on

[WinNoMo]

Now if they would just kill of IE in favor of a webkit version. Then Windows in favor of a Unix based OS. As a matter of fact, they should just close down.

[lazycat202]

i'm using IE8 on Win7 64bit with i7 processor. What's wrong with IE8? it runs fast and no spyware. Java & Flash have no issues!! No crash yet. huh?
True reality: Old people die first. Young people die later. no one lives forever!!

[WinNoMo]

Agreed. Windows is Old and should die.

[deniceels]

But MacOS is older, then shouldn't it die first? Oh wait... is Unix older? ouch...

[scottmacmaster]

What's wrong with IE8? You mean other then the fact it breaks half the web apps out there? It is more secure and more efficent and as a member of the IT department I work at I would love to deploy it (espacially since Microsoft was kind enough not to provide IE7 in windows updates). However, several of our third party apps don't work in IE8. So pushing out IE8 is not an option. Good thing we made a back up copy of the IE7 installer before Microsoft removed it from their website.

Thanks Microsoft.

Ya, well, "Windows" isn't really Windows, it's OS/2's grand kid. Windows died many years ago, pulled under by an anchor called DOS.

[Random_Walk]

Psst! Have 'em kill Dynamics NAV next...

[rollcage]

Didn't Microsoft kill off OneCare in response to the pending release of Microsoft Security Essentials?

[Mr_fleabite]

The king is dead, long live the king. or so it goes.

[ca5ter]

I'm would like to see a large company really challenge Intuit's hold on accounting software. It would be good for the consumer.

[jwmoreland]

Mint.com was so close in the personal accounting space, but they sold out to Inuit :(

[ca5ter]

Hopefully, the purchase of Mint.com will enable Intuit to create a better experience than Quicken (boxed or online).

I know many people are still hesitant to put their finical numbers online, so it will be interesting to see how successful a pure online model will be.

[pamelaburns]

There are some online companies challenging the Quickbooks product - Xero, Outirght, DocSnaps.

Xero and Outright are online accounting apps.

DocSnaps is more of a bookkeeping automation web app that converts documents to bookkeeping transactions.

[Vegaman_Dan]

MSFT didn't do much in promoting this product- I didn't even know it existed and I have to support the software packages like this when they come out.

[Bertbaby]

I'm surprised Microsoft hasn't done more with Navision now known as MS Dynamics NAV but I don't think they have clue about this business space. On the lighter side I see MS still has sense of humor since they are still advertsing the Office Accounting product for sale at $199 on the same page as the end of life announcement. If you wait a few weeks you can a copy on eBay for $2.99.

[yours_truly_michael]

Well, it's a good decision, since it's hardly used, it's lost it's popularity to GnuCash

GnuCash is personal and small-business financial-accounting software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL and available for GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

And it's free, as in $0

[yours_truly_michael]

GnuCash is listed as a free download in the repositories of Linux Mint.

Oh, if you don't know what Linux Mint is then check out the website and videos.

http://www.linuxmint.com/about.php

http://www.linuxmint.com/screenshots.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ShbhYytrQ0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V8TDCiPBUU

[yours_truly_michael]

Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu 9.10 since the GPL license allows it.

[yours_truly_michael]

GnuCash is listed as a free download in the repositories of Linux Mint.

Oh, if you don't know what Linux Mint is then check out the website and videos.

http://www.linuxmint.com/about.php

http://www.linuxmint.com/screenshots.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ShbhYytrQ0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V8TDCiPBUU

[yours_truly_michael]

GnuCash is listed as a free download in the repositories of Ubuntu 9.10 as well,

See this video on how easy it is to install Ubuntu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4nJQfVknzg

[yours_truly_michael]

Linux looking better than Windows, Firefox beats IE, Thunderbird replacing Outlook, OpenOffice downloads increasing day after day, and now GnuCash outing Microsoft on accounting software. This is truly the year of open source.

[hattrix]

I'm not at all an open-source hater (use it and contribute when I can), but I would bet money that not GnuCash figures not one iota into this story.

[luke_marsh]

Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.
Thomas A. Edison

Many of life's failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.
Thomas A. Edison

With the Advancement and progress of things such as Ewallets there is a growing need for easy management of personal financial endeavours for both individuals and small companies to cope with future buying and selling of products in more dynamic ways.

The ability to manage his or her financial portfolio will become a priority and he or she will want all this to be easy, stress free and not to disturb his life as much as writing it all down on paper today does.

If yopu really think this best done through other means is best for engaging the needs well of the people you wanted to sell accounting to ect then you go right ahead there Microsoft.
Me I want a personal AI bank manager that is Internet/tax-man services savy and who helps make my life easy one day with out getting to much in the way of my lifestyle fun. I could ask this in field of a spreadsheet but the response is more looking that I did not ask nicely and respect the lack of certain intelligences of the software if I did.

So then Microsoft I know these products didn't cut the mustard in their time but would you truly say there's not a market slice there you could make for your self with these kind of personal and small accounting products in the future.

It's a shame I don't have a software company to ponder such things my self but I do have a great imagination and a pile of junk personally lol.

[jezzali]

Not terribly related to most of your comment I know but Thomas A. Edison, aside from what he is most well known for was the guy who ripped off Nikola Tesla when he worked for him and didn't want the world to be electrified with Tesla's Alternating Current (AC)... Guess who had the last laugh ?

[pentest]

Once again MS fails when it is starting late or competing on a level playing field.

[deniceels]

erm... MS started AFTER Apple/Macintosh was formed and their OS was released after Lisa/Macintosh.. so, at it stands for market, it didn't correlate to your statement then given it started late?

[pentest]

1. Apple was started in 1976, Microsoft started in 1975.

2. Reading comprehension is your friend: OR ON A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD.

[worried1]

Windows is old and should die? How old do you thing Unix is? Linux is just another flavor of UNIX and cannot match Windows or even MAC it it could we would all be using it instead of paying for an OS.

[pentest]

Linux is not a flavor of Unix. They are both POSIX compliant, which gives the appearance of Linux being a Unix variant.

Unix is a modern OS, regardless of when it was first written. Lots of cruft in Windows 7 is very old.

The only thing Windows beats Linux in is games and malware. Everything else Linux wins hands-down. Linux rules the server room, supercomputing, and embedded device markets, ya know, the more demanding and more technical than desktop markets?

[deniceels]

now you say unix is modern? what's this then-->> "Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX, sometimes also written as Unix with small caps) is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 " <<-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix and regardless of when it is written? first liking to comment of things being first and late, now regardless? hmm...

MS Windows idea was meant to be backward compatible with older softwares, thus you can run it mostly without problems, unlike MacOSX. Try running a 2000 software on their Snow Leopard and see what you get.

I shall get back to my BeOS, Redhat, SuSe then...

oh gcc originated from ->"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Compiler_Collection" extended and used in compling parts of Linux, which is --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Linux "Creation of Linux". GNU kernel for linux was written by Mr Torvalds "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux" "GNU" thus every OS borrowed from somewhere and developed.

[jezzali]

Microsoft will probably put the moves on Intuit now... It wouldn't be a surprise.

[rootsmusic]

Microsoft tried to acquire Intuit in 1995, but the Justice Department opposed under anti-trust regulations. You think that it's time for another try?

[Andrewross]

On top of the Vista Debacle this is the nail in the coffin for Microsofts credibility with small businesses in the UK.

It looks like Sage is now the only credible player.

Intuit don't support Multi-currency and Mamut are too much in bed with Microsoft to trust.

Perhaps its time for Google to take the initiative!

[Aurora_7]

...Google...now that's a thought! A competitor for Sage would be welcome. MS Accounting was not it, but it could have been, with just a little more customer research.

[csurico]

Intuit does support Multi-Currency as of their 2009 versions.

[kuvijandu]

well windows kernel is developed by bill gates and mac osx of stealed from linus and no royalties paid Hasholes apple fans

[rootsmusic]

Microsoft failed at promoting its Accounting product. It should have been included in the suite for MS Office's Small Business Edition! With MS Money and Office Accounting both discontinued, Microsoft is finally capitulating the financial software market to Intuit.