Amortization calculator loan personal

To state my bias right up front: I have been a fan and userof Intuit Corp's Quicken for DOS since version 2 and Quicken for Windows since version 1.

For years, no other program came close to matching Quicken's ease of use and flexibility when it came to managing your money. Designed for home use, it has long featured the facilities to account for a small business or a corporate department.

Indeed, an earlier version may have been "the best DOS program ever written" - period - assuming you didn't need to produce invoices.

(An invoice generator eventually appeared as an optional add-on.)

Most software reviewers lovedQuickenanditrocketed up the sales charts. For years it has been the DOS (and later Windows) best-sellign personalfinanceprogram, with a commanding market share.

But if you think debating the best word processor, database or spreadsheet is a good way to start an argument, you ain't seen nothin' until you ask about accounting programs.

Accountants tend to hate Quicken for the very reason reviewers love it: Quicken doesn't follow the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, established pre-PCs.

Most accounting programs are as awkward to drive as a Sherman tank unless you have an accounting degree.

Sells for peanuts

If you are a trained accountant, or have years of bookkeeping experience, Quicken's ease of use may initially drive you crazy.

If, on the other hand, you simply want to update your spending records on the fly and still get great financial reports quickly and easily, Quicken has long been an obvious choice. Especially since it sells for peanuts.

Quicken is so popular, Microsoft went after its Windows market with a competing program called Money.

The difference between Quicken for Windows and Money is hardly worth talking about. Both have sold very well.

Perhaps too well. Unable to find significant features to improve, the marketing war between Intuit's and Microsoft's personal finance managers has turned into a contest to see which manufacturer could add the most features.

On the surface, that race should benefit users.

But there's a risk of it going too far.

Intuit's latest versions, for example, includes the ability to graph where your money has gone, a loan amortization calculator, financial calendar, and additional features for tracking investments.

The problem is: this product is so mature that each new additional feature appeals to an ever-shrinking percentage of users, while complicating menu selection and other options for everyone.

Complicating the matter further, being an American program, Quicken features banking by phone, links to U.S.-only Companion products, and other options irrelevant to most Canadians.

That's not a knock against Intuit, just a reminder that even handy, dandy Quicken has the potential to outgrow most users' needs.

Many young families and home businesses will find previous versions quite sufficient. Quicken for DOS version 7 and Quicken for Windows 3 feel feature-laden, just shy of bloated. The DOS version in particular is in danger of crossing this line.

DOS holdouts will undoubted be gratified that Intuit is still supporting and upgrading its original product; especially since version 7 provides many of the featues found in Quicken for Windows 3.

It even provides Memorized Budgets and the ability to easily go the last transaction, two features curiously missing in the new Windows version.

That said, like virtually every other software developer of consequence, Intuit has jumped on Windows' bandwagon.

While Intuit cannot yet afford to write off the DOS market, Windows is the platform with the obvious future.

If, like yours truly, you cursed the previous release of Quicken for Windows for not providing some handy Quicken for DOS 6 features, version 3 for Windows is what you have been waiting for.

Coaches, the ability to split register transactions by percentage, the ability to copy/paste/insert transactions, and the refinance calculator, are all here.

Quicken for Windows 3 provides five key features improvements and over 30 new features ranging from a pop-up calendar to a maximize button, from comparison and percentage reports to pricing a budget spreadsheet.

The new features Intuit promotes most heavily are the financial calculator ("a breakthrough innovation for easy organization"), expanded yet simplified report facilities, easier and more flexible investing tracking, and financial planning graphs. My personal favourite enhancements are found in the improved check (cheque) register, which I didn't think they could make simpler to use.

Many users will find these new versions full of evolutionary, not revolutionary enhancements. But the best bettered is not hard to take.

Even the Help facility has been dramatically improved.

Our only real quibble concerns learning the DOS version on a fast box.

On our test 33MHz 486, the timed displays of installation and tutorial information flew open and shut too quickly to read comfortably.

Hands down, Quicken remains the personal finance manager of choice for both DOS and Windows users. (It is also available for the Mac, but that version was not reviewed for this article.)

Quicken is manufactured by Intuit, 155 Linfield Dr., P.O. Box 3014, Menlo Park, Calif., 94026 and is available from most Canadian dealers.

Both versions list for $69.95. but are frequently discounted by dealers.