Comments on: How Intuit managed to hold off Microsoft

Scott Cook was one of the first executives to go head-to-head on Redmond's home turf and live to tell about it.

[Brian]

Thank god.

It's about time that the big and mighty Microsoft Corporation learns that they can't buy someone else and take over another industry (i.e. Yahoo).

[edentifier2]

Yep, just like Google bought out the company that made PC based mapping software ... that then became Google Maps...

One set of rules for judging Microsoft, one set of rules for judging everyone else... enjoy your hypocrisy...

[Mr. Dee]

Microsoft Money was in house developed? Whats your point about buying another Company and whats wrong with that anyway? Mergers and defunct acquisitions happen all the time. Look at AMD and ATI, recently SUN and Oracle and countless others. Microsoft wanted Yahoo! to help keep Google from taking away the market to itself. Please, get your facts straight.

[Brian]

@Mr. Dee

Actually, it's true.
Microsoft has a history of buying out companies to monopolize the industry.

Mergers are one thing, but hostile takeovers such as the failed attempt with Yahoo are another.

I am not suggesting that two wrongs make a right as in your perfect example of SUN and Oracle.

[FutureGuy]

@Brian. MS has never done a hostile takeover ever, and MS doesn't have a "history of buying out companies to monopolize the industry". If MS wanted to do a hostile takeover of Yahoo, it could have easily done that. Get your facts right or people might think you are stupid.

[QASIMARA]

There's always some anti-trust feline waiting a 4:59 AM to hiss at Microsoft Corporation. One could sets one's clock by it on some days.

[Endbringer]

I think Brian was talking about how MS tried to buyout Intuit in the 90s.

[monkeyfun14]

@Brian

And Apple has a history of doing the same damn thing.

[Chameleon81]

I agree with edentifier2. google bought writely and converted it into google docs. I think they also bought Picasa...

Sometimes I fell very sorry for MS.

[Mister C]

Whats the point?

CNET is awash in paid M$ shills who will defend any behavior their master
commands. M$ could be boiling puppies and there would a line of marketing
chimps coming to M$'s defense. When commenting on M$'s corrupt tactics
all that is accomplished is to bring out the trolls. To use the words of that
famous reporter, Ford Prefect, "It's Pointless!"

[winstein]

Just like so many Microsoft products, Money had so much fluff. We tried it because it was free, and it came with the PC. Eventually we switched to Quicken because it worked better.

[technewsjunkie]

Maybe it's because when this battle was peak, Microsoft was being watched by the Feds and they had to compete more fairly, in which case they would lose their advantage.

If they can't leverage their monopoly(s) they won't do well competing on product quality and stability.

[monkeyfun14]

How are they not competing fairly exactly?

They actively improve their products every release.

[pu2006]

I gotta say I actually preferred Money over Quicken. I just didn't care for Quicken's interface. In the end, I don't use either anymore.

[WallyEG]

My first copy of Quicken was sitting on my doorstep when I and my new bride returned from our honeymoon over 18 years ago. We used it for many, many years. I never seriously considered MS Money. Tried it once, but it just didn't compare, IMO. I can run a report and tell you how much money I spent on gas for the first 15 years I was married and just about anything else.

The story of how Intuit beat Microsoft is detailed in an excellent book called 'Inside Intuit' - can't remember the author or publisher off the top of my head.

But I've quit using Quicken. Their customer service is now about the most horrible service you can find. And the way they effectively require you to update no less than every 2 years is just wrong. I'm a software engineer, so I've been volunteering time to a promising open source project. I don't think Intuit even likes Quicken anymore; and I'm sure they no longer care for Quicken customers. It is really, really sad - they used to be a great company, the David and stood up to Goliath, but now I'm not sure what they are.

[protagonistic]

I am not a MS fan, but if I had to choose between the two products I would have taken Money. And I did have a chance to use both. When I switched to a Mac I was pretty much stuck with Quicken for several years but finally managed to find a Mac only replacement that did a fair job of importing my Quicken files. I an now in an Intuit free zone. :-)

Your customer service remark is spot on in my experience as well. A friend of mine used Quickbooks and had nothing but problems with support. Their attitude seemed to be we couldn't care less if you are not happy because we are really the only game in town. Same thing with a friend who uses Quicken. She called me last month about a problem. She was having trouble with online banking access. Seems the bank updated their software and it wouldn't let her access the bank unless she upgraded her version of Quicken as well.

Intuit has turned into just another ruthless company. In battling MS they turned into a mirror image using the same business practices. Intuit bought the company that made a great little finance program, and a nice little tax program, that I had used since back in the DOS days and promptly killed both within a year and then sold what remained of the company about a year later. It appeared that they only bought the company to kill of two competing products.

I do use open source both on my Mac and on my PC. Are you willing to pass on the name of the project? :-) I am a Source Forge member if it is on there.

[zarrik]

It amazes me that for over a decade there have been only two major money management applications available to consumers. Sure, there are others, but none of them packed with the features of Quicken and Money.

[protagonistic]

Time for the almost obligatory "get a Mac" comment. There are actually quite a few very nice choices in that department including Quicken if you are a graduate of the Marquis de Sade school. :-)

I think in this case Microsoft's "everything is integrated with everything else" strategy actually backfired. I feel more secure knowing my Quicken files are ONLY in Quicken and are not shareable with every Office product and Explorer and who-knows-what-else.

Quicken also always had the feeling of only wanting to do one thing and do it well, while with Microsoft it was always painfully obvious that they were trying to be all things to all users.

Also, Quicken just worked better.

[monkeyfun14]

Are shared only in Quicken.

What the hell does it matter if something is integrated with the companies other products if they run all the servers for them? O_o

[EcuadorHomesOnline]

Money wasn't a bad product, but Intuit did a good job of locking in early users - something they learned from Microsoft with the Office suite! I've used Quicken for 15 years now, and it's great having immediate access to "how much did I spend on this widget ten years ago". I tried Money a few times, and there were actually some features in Money that I liked better - but it was more important for me to maintain easy access to my historic transactions, which are tied to Quicken. Also, the link between Quicken and TurboTax is very strong - and critically important to most users. No matter how good Money was, Microsoft could never compete in the tax prep world, which is a very big limitation.

[Mr. Dee]

I am seriously trying to wonder what will be going next or will become free. Ina, don't forget that Microsoft recently made Office SharePoint Designer 2007 for free and future versions will be too.

[anonymuos]

Wow I was wondering how come there isn't an article yet on how Intuit defeated Microsoft and really expecting one though I hate it. Every time there's talk of Intuit and Money, Intuit guys probably approach the media to tell me the story of how they kept Microsoft at bay.

Money suffered from the consumer's perception of untrustworthiness. Since mighty Microsoft cannot get the security model right in the operating system and the browser, nor fix the bugs both have, why should consumers believe Microsoft software can securely manage their finances?

Internet-based apps are killing both software platforms. Why go to the trouble of downloading and integrating financial information from banks and brokerages -- a weekly chore with Quicken -- when the same institutions are only too happy to create web apps to manage your money for you? You already trust your bank with your money. Legal recourse and deposit insurance reinforce that trust. Neither Intuit nor Microsoft truly back their financial software.

[cdwilliams1]

I posted this on the other story, but it applies here as well. Mac users should check out MoneyWell for personal finance software. Much better than the Mac version of Quicken. I managed to get a copy of MoneyWell as part of the spring MacUpdate bundle so I gave it a shot and I LOVE it. Check it out!

[cvaldes1831]

MoneyWell is not comparable to Quicken if you need to track investments, assets and loans. If you basically run a cash household (bank accounts, credit cards, etc.) or if you're fine with having your investment activities tracked elsewhere, it's probably not a bad piece of software, but if that's the level of functionality you're looking for, you might as well just use one of the free online services.

[protagonistic]

I use iBank and it does track investments. I like it much better than I do the Quicken for Mac that I used before. It also did a fair job of importing my Quicken files. That is the main reason I chose it because it did the best job importing. Nice thing on the Mac is that most of the finance programs allow you to use the program for 30 days free of charge.

[BogusBasin]

Microsoft is always looking to see who is making money. Then they try to dominate that field using any means necessary. Leverage their Monopoly, bundling, giving away free, buyouts, etc. That's business. But trying to dominate EVERYTHING is starting to backfire. If not for their core moneymakers like windows and office, their other ventures would have failed long ago. I think their XBox business is starting to make money finally. Zune? Nope. Search? Nope. They should have split them up so their products would have to stand on their own. Then maybe they would have reason to make products that are designed to compete on their own merit.

[Izzmo]

If you all remember, Intuit and MS Money tried a merger a while back, but the antitrust people at the government didn't like that. ... So, who is really better? No one really.

[JoeF2]

Most people probably don't remember, but yes, Microsoft tried to unload MS Money before. They wanted to sell it to Intuit, but that ran into anti-trust issues, as you mention.
After that, MS Money was basically languishing and dying a slow death.

[finleyd]

One big reason for Intuit's success is their early and continued mastery of User-Interface design. Intuit has become something of the standard for good (or at least very familiar) design. As a Software Developer, I've had more than one client ask me to design an application with a look and feel similar to Quicken or Turbotax.

[achernow]

I've given up on all of the personal finance software, and just use a spreadsheet in OpenOffice and my bank's online system to track the money in my checking & savings accounts. That's all I was using Quicken for anyway, so why spend the money for upgrades every 2 years? Especially when the new Mac version was such a pile-o-garbage.

-Adam

[InklingBooks]

Mentioning Microsoft and Intuit in the same article is appropriate. I use Quicken on my Mac to take track my checkbook, but I dislike using it for much the same reason I dislike using Microsoft Word. . Both companies seem to create poorly designed, clumsy, bloated applications. We'll see if the long delayed new version of Quicken they're creating for the Mac is worth the hype. If not, I'm jumping ship.

[martoonman]

I've used Money for about 5 years and at the beginning of 2009 switched over to Quickbooks -- I dislike Intuit far more than Microsoft BUT they have built a better mousetrap!

[CDubber]

"and was able to get many computer makers to pre-load Money on new PCs"

Hmmm, I wonder how Microsoft was able to do *that*.

/sarcasm re: Microsoft's monopoly bullying power

[dedwardstx]

It doesn't surprise me that Microsoft lost this battle, as they really have a clear understanding of the market. Robbie's quote "...take that mundane, ho-hum experience and not only make it fun but also make it beautiful" pretty sums up the problem with Money. Microsoft was more concerned about the "beauty" of the program rather than the actual function. Let's face it when it comes to your finances, would you rather have a very pretty program or one that just actually works. With their annual release, one that only occured b/c they were trying to keep up with Intuit, they actually didn't have the required time to significantly improve the product. Money was also used as a weapon in to help their MSN plight when they tried to tie it to MSN MoneyCentral now MSN Money. Is that really what their customers wanted?