Software

[oceanlovin'ea]

New laptop

I bought a new laptop a month ago because my desktop was having some problems and I figured that I would get a laptop this time. I will use it as a stationary drive and hook up my printers and moniter and keyboard and mouse to it. I am almost ready to do that.

But I ended up having to upgrade Quickbooks and Microsoft Office both because my older version wouldn't work with VISTA.

Its a good thing I got a good deal on the laptop because I have spent as much on upgrading programs and new accessories.

I hope I don't have to go through this again for a long long time.

Linda F

[John of PA]

I agree but we have no choice

I agree, BN, we need Vista like we need mechanical calculators, but it will be forced on us as Microsoft will eventuall stop supporting windows XP.

[John of PA]

Avoid Vista

Linda,
From what I am hearing, it's still too early to switch to Vista. I understand you can still by a new computer with Windows XP up to the end of this year.

[Davc]

The funny thing is that this is the only real complaint I have ever heard about Lacerte is there price.

1. The Lacerte program makes unwarranted assumptions that many practitioners forget to check. Example: Assuming all of the same costs qualify for the T&F as the ED credits ansd calculating the most advantages under that assumtion.

2. One year they released the OR Form 65 with all of the line descriptions scrambled on the form. I was told by their Tech support twice that it wouldn't be fixed. On the third call I got a better response.

3. They refused to fix the 2000 40X.

4. They're owned by Intuit.

[Holland]

[QUOTE=sea-tax;42541]

With any type of technology I really think you get what you pay for. If you buy a program for $500 bucks then you can't expect it to have all the features that a $3000 dollar program has, it is unrealistic.

Is it then your contention that price alone is the only useful measure of quality in tax software programs? The more expensive a program is, the better it will be for everyone?

[gailtaxed]

Vista can go jump in a lake, for all I care.

When will the video game programmers stop bothering us? For what purpose do I need 3D to do bookkeeping and tax returns? I could still be using the software I used 15 years ago to do accounting and bookkeeping, if it were not for the fact Windows keeps changing their operating system, to the demise of my older software.

I won't upgrade to Vista until I have no other choice.

Hear, Hear! I could not agree with you more. Unfortunately, it is getting more difficult to find computers that have not been upgraded if you buy off the shelf from big box retailers. My son has Vista on his laptop, and other than pretty pictures, I think it is pretty much useless.

[sea-tax]

[QUOTE=Holland;42575]

Is it then your contention that price alone is the only useful measure of quality in tax software programs? The more expensive a program is, the better it will be for everyone?

No but it is a wonderful starting point. Frankly I don't really care how much or how little people wan't to spend . I just find it funny when someone spends $99 on a tax program and wonders why it doesn't provide support for say the form 5500.

[Bees Knees]

Unfortunately, it is getting more difficult to find computers that have not been upgraded if you buy off the shelf from big box retailers.

I bought a laptop last year, and the retail store wanted to charge me extra to take off a whole bunch of useless programs that were loaded on the thing from the manufacturer.

Its like charging extra to take the lead out of gasoline. Lead is an additive to gasoline. The gasoline doesn’t come naturally with lead in it. Yet when cars started to use lead free gasoline, they charged extra to supposedly take the lead out of the gasoline, assuming we were too stupid to figure out it never had lead in it to begin with.

Funny how things in history keep repeating itself. How long before people realize computers are not manufactured with the operating system and programs already installed.

[oceanlovin'ea]

Hard to find XP

It is very difficult to find a computer with XP on it now.My husband works for a large company and they have bought some new computers lately. As soon as they get them, they take them to their computer shop and have VISTA taken off and XP put on. I think they pay $100 or $150 to have that done.

But when I was looking in the stores, VISTA was on all the computers.

I think you could order from Dell and still get XP.

Linda F

[Davc]

I bought a laptop last year, and the retail store wanted to charge me extra to take off a whole bunch of useless programs that were loaded on the thing from the manufacturer.

Thats what the PC Decrapifier is for.