Sneak Preview: Quicken for Mac overhaul due out this fall
Intuit in the far corner of its booth at this week's Macworld Expo is quietly previewing a major revamp of its personal finance software designed exclusively for users of Apple's Mac OS X Leopard operating system.
The new version, code-named Heathrow, has been redesigned from the ground up as a Universal application that makes extensive use of modern-day Mac OS X technologies like CoreData, an Intuit representative told AppleInsider.
Due out this fall, the software has yet to reach the beta stage, but its advancements are considered to be so vast that Intuit plans to completely re-brand Quicken for Mac as "Quicken Financial Life for Mac" at that time.
Most apparent is a completely new and streamlined user interface that conforms to Apple's modern-day interface standards. Upon first glance, it's possible the new version could be mistaken for one of the Mac maker's own apps with its iTunes-like sidebar and CoverFlow data views.
Much effort has been made on Intuit's part to reduce the clutter and confusion often associated with the existing versions of Quicken for Mac, which include countless menus, buttons and dialog boxes that often serve to complicate the learning process for more novice users, rather than aid them in their financial management.
Replacing all those toolbars, palettes and dialog boxes is a simple, single-window interface. A sidebar on the left is separated into categories such as Banking, Loans & Assets, Investments, Budgets, Calendar and Taxes. Associated data views display on the right side of the single-window interface. Intuit also promises some "Community" features that it will detail at a later date.
Quicken Financial Life for Mac will also reduce the emphasis on traditional data views in favor of simpler, more concise reporting formats that take advantage of the application's wide-spread use of "tags." For instance, a new Tag Cloud view displays a simple summary of a user's financial spending by displaying in a larger font size the names of financial categories in which the user spends the most money. Categories in which the user spends less money are presented in a smaller font size.
Another reporting view, called "How am I doing?," is crisp and clear, listing scheduled expenses in the next thirty days, a list of unidentified transactions, colorful pie charts, and written feedback on how well a user is managing their budget.
Quicken Financial Life for Mac will also feature semi-translucent pop-up dialogs akin to Apple's iMovie controls, and several other interface aspects that will be familiar to users of Mac OS X Leopard.
Intuit, however, has not yet decided on how much it plans to charge for the next-gen Quicken software.
The new version, code-named Heathrow, has been redesigned from the ground up as a Universal application that makes extensive use of modern-day Mac OS X technologies like CoreData, an Intuit representative told AppleInsider.
Due out this fall, the software has yet to reach the beta stage, but its advancements are considered to be so vast that Intuit plans to completely re-brand Quicken for Mac as "Quicken Financial Life for Mac" at that time.
Most apparent is a completely new and streamlined user interface that conforms to Apple's modern-day interface standards. Upon first glance, it's possible the new version could be mistaken for one of the Mac maker's own apps with its iTunes-like sidebar and CoverFlow data views.
Much effort has been made on Intuit's part to reduce the clutter and confusion often associated with the existing versions of Quicken for Mac, which include countless menus, buttons and dialog boxes that often serve to complicate the learning process for more novice users, rather than aid them in their financial management.
Replacing all those toolbars, palettes and dialog boxes is a simple, single-window interface. A sidebar on the left is separated into categories such as Banking, Loans & Assets, Investments, Budgets, Calendar and Taxes. Associated data views display on the right side of the single-window interface. Intuit also promises some "Community" features that it will detail at a later date.
Quicken Financial Life for Mac will also reduce the emphasis on traditional data views in favor of simpler, more concise reporting formats that take advantage of the application's wide-spread use of "tags." For instance, a new Tag Cloud view displays a simple summary of a user's financial spending by displaying in a larger font size the names of financial categories in which the user spends the most money. Categories in which the user spends less money are presented in a smaller font size.
Another reporting view, called "How am I doing?," is crisp and clear, listing scheduled expenses in the next thirty days, a list of unidentified transactions, colorful pie charts, and written feedback on how well a user is managing their budget.
Quicken Financial Life for Mac will also feature semi-translucent pop-up dialogs akin to Apple's iMovie controls, and several other interface aspects that will be familiar to users of Mac OS X Leopard.
Intuit, however, has not yet decided on how much it plans to charge for the next-gen Quicken software.
Comments
Reaction #1 = looks pretty good. in a good way.
Reaction #2 = are they throwing all kinds of new HCI stuff at us in hopes we'll like it (hello, tag cloud)?
Reaction #3 = will they get the banks to come back to them?
Overall, all signs point to this being a good direction, and perhaps worth the wait. But we won't know for sure of course.
i'm soooo pissed at quicken that i asked for info about ibank 3 from i think igg software
their online product is sooooo weak and expensive and can't import old data and can't get backups (they say you can keep 5 years online)
tell me quicken why should i wait for YOU, we've been a bastard child of your for too long
whose with me!!!! i have refused to upgrade since 2003 i just download in qif and import.
just sitting back waiting for a good competitor to quicken then jump
http://www.iggsoftware.com/ibank3/index.php
Someone at Intuit appears to have persuaded the powers that be that Quicken could be successfully reinvented on the Mac. This is surprisingly sophisticated, and gives me hope!
What would really blow me away is if Intuit release a POS application that worked with Quicken. I'd so be on that ship.
I've run into that a few times lately....really irks me, but not enough ever to go back to windows....
Frank D.
THIS FALL?????
i'm soooo pissed at quicken that i asked for info about ibank 3 from i think igg software
their online product is sooooo weak and expensive and can't import old data and can't get backups (they say you can keep 5 years online)
tell me quicken why should i wait for YOU, we've been a bastard child of your for too long
whose with me!!!! i have refused to upgrade since 2003 i just download in qif and import.
just sitting back waiting for a good competitor to quicken then jump
http://www.iggsoftware.com/ibank3/index.php
aesthetically, i think iBank has done a great job... i use to use their iWork/iBiz product so I'm familiar with their quality.
however, any app that can't connect to your bank and download your transaction history is useless for me... there's no way in heck i'm going to waste my time logging all those transactions by hand. I remember reading on IGG forums that they had no intention of building in support for it... and in an age where debit cards are used like cash, i think that's a big mistake if they want to see significant sales....if a web-app like Mint.com can offer such, iBank should.
Hopefully Intuit will be inspired by the Mac development environment. If they really get into it we could actually go beyond feature parity with the Windows version.
The screen shots look quite clean, though I'm curious about the multiple windows. I'm hoping there is the option to see everything in a single window (like iTunes) rather than the mess of windows Quicken has now.
Let's hope Intuit finally makes the data files for Windows and Mac fully compatible and that the Mac version has all the features and functionality the Windows version has. This lack of commonality and the nightmare of transitioning my Windows Quicken data to a Mac version of the software is the only reason I haven't switched this yet.
I agree. It's been about 10 years since the Windows version got stock option calculations. We Mac users are still waiting.