Moneydance 2010 - Don't Mess it up
This is a little part praise, and a little caution.
I was a long time Microsoft Money user that converted to Moneydance a few months ago. Like all new users of Moneydance, there have been quite a few adjustments to make. However, I have been able to overcome or replace functionality in every area. I had to use quite a few extensions to get equal or better functionality. I have now reached the point where I am doing quite a bit more with Moneydance than I ever did with Microsoft Money.
I have witnessed several attempts by big software companies to "improve" their product over the years, and only rarely have I seen success. I have seen them put so much bloat in their software that it takes a "top end" computer to get decent response, and I have even modified the way I used a certain program because it was too slow to use the way I wanted.
Moneydance has brought me "back" to daily use of financial software. Microsoft Money had gotten so slow and so bloated that I only used it when I "had" to and I found myself using less and less. Moneydance is so quick and agile, that I can get in, do what I want to do, and get out quickly each day. So I am tracking more, with less time involved.
Moneydance has some areas it needs improvement in, but it also has some strengths that I hope aren't lost with the upcoming release. Here are a few areas that concern me most:
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Reporting - clearly needs improvement, this is one area where the program could actually stand a performance hit, if it has to. I think you already have this covered, from what you are saying, MD2010 will a lot better in this area.
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Downloaded Transactions. I know there is plans to have a "one button approach" get all your transactions from all accounts, and that is good, but don't take away the ability to do the individual account downloads. I have some accounts where there are few transactions a month and I don't want to waste time asking for them every day. I have others where there are lots of transactions, and I need to check on them every day. The interface of Microsoft Money kind of led you to "do it all every time" and at times it could 3 or 4 minutes to just get everything downloaded and matched. So if you are going to have a "one button" approach, keep the individual account option for us guys that like to do quick checks.
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Transaction matching - this area also clearly needs improvement, but despite its flaws, it is QUICK. Microsoft Money had the download and matching stuff together, and as I mentioned earlier, that combination could be very slow at times. A manual transaction matching capability would at least give a "fallback" position, when the criteria didn't match. What ever you do, don't lose the speed.
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Visual Appearance - I don't know if there is a lot of time being spent to make Moneydance "prettier", but if it causes it to slow down, I vote "no". I will take speed over beauty in my software any time.
I am looking forward to MD2010, and I hope it builds on your strengths.
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1 Posted by Brian Adler on 02 Oct, 2009 07:08 PM
Randy,
Thank you for your feedback. I think you will be pleased with MD 2010. We are improving the look and intuitiveness/usability of the interface with no added bloat.
Sincerely,
Brian Adler
Moneydance Support
2 Posted by Tim Gibson on 03 Nov, 2009 02:06 AM
Greetings,
I've been looking for a replacement for Microsoft Money. This is it. Excellent software! And future freedom from Microsoft too!
3 Posted by jamesw on 04 Nov, 2009 07:53 PM
I used quicken many years ago and it was pathetic. No M$ Money as I'm on a mac. I went around and around trying out every app I could find on the mac loathing the day I would choose with my quicken experience still dominating my expectations. I chose MD and WOW. I am at it nearly every day. As the op mentioned since its nimble , clear I get in get out, and track more just because the app is well done. Maybe the nicest app I use.
Personally I like the way it looks, really like HOME & tuning it in. Sure anything needs improvement but please keep it simple & responsive.
Thanks,
-Jim
4 Posted by Ben Spencer on 06 Nov, 2009 02:29 PM
Thanks for the positive feedback. Its nice to hear on a support forum. There is something of a negative reporting bias in a tech support job, i.e. people who are are satisfied post much less frequently than those who are not. We will strive to keep new versions of Moneydance clean and quick.
Sincerely
Ben Spencer
5 Posted by vrette on 08 Nov, 2009 04:52 PM
I feel compelled to ring in with a big "me too." I was using MS Money and was satisfied with it, at least in comparison to Quicken, which I absolutely hated (for example, a password protected password vault inside a password protected program, huh?). I never thought about an alternative to MS Money until Microsoft decided to cancel development and support. I’ve been using Moneydance now for about a week, and I think it is great.
I have one suggestion regarding the trial version. I was initially put off by the 100 transaction limit because it really wasn’t enough “capacity” for me to import all of my data and really see the program work. I ended up buying it anyway on a hope and a prayer (and some good reviews). If you changed the trial to 60 days without any functional limitations, users would be able to realize the full potential of the program and at the same time be motivated to buy a license at the end of the trial period since as we all know, importing and exporting data from any personal finance program to another can be a bit of work.
6 Posted by RobS on 08 Nov, 2009 10:56 PM
vrette,
I'm pretty sure that the trial version allows 100 new transactions in addition to unlimited import of transactions from other software, though as you have now bought it this won't be of help to you :-).
But perhaps it will to others.
7 Posted by Ben Spencer on 09 Nov, 2009 02:49 PM
Hi Vrette
Thank you for the support.
Rob is correct. The limit only applies to importing transactions from a bank account or adding them by hand. If you select the "From another program" option when you import your qif file the 100 limit does not apply.
Sincerely
Ben Spencer
8 Posted by vrette on 09 Nov, 2009 02:56 PM
That is where I messed up. I was happily cha-chinging through the transactions manually when I tried to import them, and the program stopped me at the 100th entry of my checking account. No worries. I still like the program. :)
9 Posted by RonB on 21 Dec, 2009 02:19 PM
I want to add my voice to the "clean & quick" chorus;
My Quicken had become so unpredictably unfixably buggy and bloaty and badly supported and so expensive to replace that I finally gave up on it in utter disgust.
Having discovered MoneyDance 2010 (almost by accident) and just spending a few hours with the trial version, I am becoming ever more impressed and confident. --looks like Quicken is no longer the only show in town.
Also, I like the nice_guys and personal support_ feel at your website - a real selling point in my opinion. And it was the quick no-hassle trial download that hooked me! Good work, folks.
Since it looks like I'll be buying MoneyDance, please continue to keep it nice, clean, simple and intuitive for me!
Thank-you!
10 Posted by jckeatley on 21 Dec, 2009 03:10 PM
I've got the upgrade, and it really looks sharp. Thanks for all the hard work on it. However, there's a showstopper defect that is keeping me from using it. I am using the previous version until you can get it fixed. The defect is 2323 in Trac. When I am importing transactions from BofA, and I want to select something besides the default match and hit the Accept button, it goes into an endless loop. I tried to wait it out, but after 30 minutes it was still going strong, using 100% of one of my cores.
I tried to update the defect with details I had collected (stacktrace, JConsole screen, etc), but was unable because my ID, which I hadn't used in a while, was not privileged to create or modify defects.
Every now and then, I fire up the new version and see if it has been updated. Thanks for a great product, and I hope you can get this issue fixed soon.
11 Posted by DaveF on 22 Dec, 2009 11:33 PM
I've been a user of Moneydance since 2006, previously using MS Money.
Must say MD just gets better and better, and 2010 looks a lot slicker.
Can we get some priority put on documentation? The current help is too skimpy, and I'm certain MD has some hidden gems that we just don't know about.
Keep up the great work.
12 Posted by Ben Spencer on 23 Dec, 2009 01:10 AM
Our current internal time line (baring unforeseen disasters) is to have the MD2010 documentation out before the end of 2009. We realize this is not ideal and we definitely would have preferred to have it released a week ago. I sincerely apologize for the delay.
Ben Spencer
13 Posted by Denis D on 10 Jan, 2010 01:56 PM
After moving from a PC to a mac last year I think I've found my replacement for MS Money at last. One thing I did like about Money was the ability to click on a date in the bills calendar (say end of the month) add see my projected account balance after deductions. The only way I can see of doing this in Moneydance is to pre-enter the transactionsfor the month. The extension Balance Predictor doesn't seem much use.
14 Posted by Randy on 10 Jan, 2010 02:45 PM
Try the extension "forecaster", mentioned in the thread below. Note the install instructions on the download page. It works more like the cash flow forecast graph in Money than anything else I have found. Better in some ways, in that it is faster and in a separate window so you can update reminders or future transactions and see it change in real time.
http://help.infinitekind.com/discussions/switching-to-moneydance-fr...
15 Posted by Denis D on 10 Jan, 2010 05:43 PM
Pleased to report that "forecaster" works really well. I'm happy to buy Moneydance now and will be saying goodbye to Windows on my Mac. Thanks for your help Randy
16 Posted by Bo on 21 Feb, 2010 12:00 AM
Speed over beauty? Why the hell can't we have both? I tried this program and it is plain ugly compared to MS Money. As slow as Money is I'll take it any day over this. Hopefully somebody will come out with a viable alternative to Money in the next couple of years, but at this point in time this program is certainly not an acceptable replacement.
Angie Rauscher closed this discussion on 21 Feb, 2010 04:00 AM.