Both Microsoft Money and Intuit Quicken are leading financial software providers in terms of U.S. market share. The two software packages both come in three primary versions from the most basic to the premier, each with additional functions and features not necessarily available in less expensive versions. Furthermore, both Microsoft Money and Intuit Quicken have a small business management component to their software packages. The two products seem to be competing with each other as their product designs and packages illustrate.
Microsoft Money advantages
• More affordable than Quicken: At $19.99, $29.99 and $49.99 for the essentials, deluxe and premium versions, Microsoft Money software out values Quicken's starter, deluxe and premier finance software packages for PC's at $29.99, $59.99 and $89.99.
• Microsoft engineering: It's probably worth mentioning Microsoft has some of the best and brightest software engineers and programmers in the World. It is quite likely the Microsoft's talent pool, experience in the industry and management know how has had a positive influence on the evolution of
Microsoft Money software over the years.
• Since Microsoft also designs operating systems such as Windows, it is also beneficial from a functionality and integration perspective that Microsoft Money is made by the same company as many popular operating systems. This can lead to smoother and more familiar features, styles and formatting.
Intuit Quicken advantages
• A primary advantage of Quicken is that the same company also makes tax preparation software and small business management software. The advantage is exporting and transporting data from one file in one software, to another file in another software can be enabled by similar design features. An example of this is the exporting function of quicken to Turbo tax which is also an Intuit product.
• Quicken credit card: A unique differential advantage quicken has to Microsoft Money is the Quicken credit card. This card allows card holders to download financial records and history quickly and easily into the Quicken software without a lot of hassle. In effect, the Quicken credit card allows card holders to consolidate accounts with account record keeping at home.
• Another advantage of Quicken is the company really tries to add value and has some partial success doing so with the add on features. For example, Quicken allows users to print their own checks, download financial data directly from financial institutions and pay bills online through Quicken's bill payer service.
Disadvantages of both Intuit Quicken and Microsoft Money
While Quicken seems to have more capacity than Microsoft in terms of providing services and allowing it's users to organize their finances, the fact remains that neither Microsoft or Quicken are full service banking institutions, data entrists or financial planners. They are merely software packages to help organize and analyze information. Microsoft does not appear to attempt to go beyond this role in the same way Quicken does, perhaps out of knowing the limits of the software's capability. However, Microsoft's software is less expensive perhaps in reflection of the less complete service options.
What both Quicken and Microsoft Money fail to tout is the fact that financial institutions sometimes do a great job of preparing and presenting personal financial information all by themselves. All Quicken and Money do are replicate the data and consolidate it for further review and manipulations. This may or may not be and advantage to someone who already has an organized of comfortable financial record keeping system in place.
Microsoft Money and Intuit Quicken are both well marketed, professionally designed, and multi-generational software packages that have been years in the making. They are both produced by experienced software designers and both serve a similar function i.e. organization and presentation of personal and in some cases, small business financial information. Each software has slightly different advantages and similar disadvantages.
The advantages are in the software capabilities, pricing and formatting and the disadvantages are in the actual real life utility of the software i.e. they are both good software packages but neither one performs financial tasks already existing financial institutions such as banks can't and don't already do via financial statements and reports.
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