Has Intuit Made Good on DRM Removal? 79
M-G asks: "It's tax time again in the US. Last year, Slashdot and other sites were abuzz with Intuit's use of activation software in TurboTax. As a result, many long time TurboTax users, myself included, sought alternatives last year and wrote Intuit to tell them so. After tax season, Intuit said they would drop DRM from future TurboTax releases and other products sold in retail packaging. While I have no reason to assume that Intuit lied, they did violate my trust last year. So, has anyone confirmed that this year's TurboTax is indeed free of DRM? What about products like Quicken?"
They have made good I think (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:They have made good I think (Score:1, Informative)
Re:They have made good I think (Score:1)
In what way? I haven't tried it yet, but now I'm curious so I'll have to try it even though my taxes are long since done and filed.
Re:They have made good I think (Score:3, Informative)
State is a terrible creation.
I live in one state and did some work in another state. Then my wife moved to my state (after the wedding) from another state. Three states represented, on with partial year residency, one with full, one with non-residency.
Their solution: 3 copies of TT:State at 29.99 each.
Luckily most states are getting their acts together and have the whole thing online.
Re:They have made good I think (Score:2)
Re:They have made good I think (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:They have made good I think (Score:1, Insightful)
Parent comment should be ranked "Score:-1, Assumes that criminal intent is the only valid reason for opposing DRM."
Are you still using the same computer you did your taxes on in 1999? No? Well, neither are most people. If you need to install an older version of TurboTax to print or revise an earlier return, then you
Re:They have made good I think (Score:1)
Not all are technically using it to the full intent Intuit has, but it's sort of ridiculous to have 5 people in one house filing returns and buy 5 copies of the software at $30 or so each.
Why pay for this software? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's free to use, you simply pay for submission. You always know you are working off of their latest "updates", and no DRM will get in the way. It is Non-IE browser friendly too... and you don't have to buy an upgrade every year.
Re:Why pay for this software? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why pay for this software? (Score:2, Informative)
Uh, yeah, movie theaters are free to use, you just have to pay to watch the movies. (?)
Anyway, I checked that site, and they charge $39.95 to use their TurboTax Basic. What a rip! You can buy that retail for about $30, and lots of places have rebate deals, where it ends up being free, or you get a free CDRW drive or something with the rebate. Intuit sent us one of their TurboTax CDs in the mail this year, where you have to go to their website and pay to
Re:Why pay for this software? (Score:5, Interesting)
Or much cheaper. It's been around $20 at staples for a while.
http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Browse/Sku.asp?Pag
And for reference, I bought it because:
Re:Why pay for this software? (Score:1)
I don't feel comfortable putting all my financial information online in one place
But, in fact, when you file your return you are transmitting that information to Intuit, who acts as the clearing house prior to forwarding the return to the IRS. So if you don't trust Intuit's on-line program, what is the basis to trust it's off-line program? Unless you don't file electronically, which doesn't make much sense IMHO
I used to use TaxCut. Then one year they completely changed the UI, some might say simpli
Re:Why pay for this software? (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, not all states are that easy. I never stop being shocked at how difficult CA can make the state return. I have NEVER seen another state like CA where at some point you expect to get a negative number, and then need to subrtact that negative number from another negative number before subrtacting the whoe thing from a positive number! I did my federal by hand
It is Non-IE browser friendly too (Score:1)
Using Firebird 0.6
Re:It is Non-IE browser friendly too (Score:2)
Re:It is Non-IE browser friendly too (Score:2)
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040308
Although for some reason (not browser related) it was forcing me to use the 1040EZ form. So I went over to TaxCut's website--used the 1040 standard form and got a refund of $550 instead of owing $120.
God the US tax code is so shitty.
Switched to TaxCut (Score:1)
Re:Switched to TaxCut (Score:2)
I switched to TaxCut, too, and I think it's a better program: It's cheaper, the online help is better, and it can do comparative analysis for things like filing jointly vs. separately.
It still, unfortunately, does stupid things like ask you thirty questions to determine whether you are required to pay AMT when you clearly and obviously aren't, but the expert-systems design approach can only take you so far.
Re:Switched to TaxCut (Score:1, Troll)
I switched to TaxCut last year (because of the DRM fiasco) and found it to be absolutely horrible. I've gone back to TurboTax this year and saved myself from pulling out my hair. Any piece of crap software can do a basic 1040-EZ, but if you start getting complicated deducations and business income then TaxCut takes a shit on you and sucks.
Re:Switched to TaxCut (Score:1)
Re:Switched to TaxCut (Score:2)
TaxAct (Score:4, Informative)
I love it because the developers are accessible and willing to listen and respond to feature requests, it runs under wine, and for straightforward taxes, it imports the previous year's data, asks if you've done any of a few major things this year, takes your W2 data, and completes the current year in no time flat.
You can buy and download the thing online, and there's zero copyright protection. They even encourage you to do multiple returns with it, so you can split the cost with a few coworkers without really breaking the rules.
Re:TaxAct (Score:4, Informative)
I meant zero copy protection -- no mechanical means of twarting duplication. Yes, there is copyright protection, as in someone owns and doubtlessly enforces the copyright.
Re:TaxAct (Score:3, Informative)
I'm not sure if I can support a company that uses spam to advertise their product. I doubt I'll be using it next year if they continue.
Re:TaxAct (Score:1)
The '03 version (this year's) actually has a check-box -- unchecked by default -- when you specify your email address, so they did the right thing this time around.
I was getting that email as well, from when I used it for my '02 returns, but it stopped when I followed the unsubscribe link. Yes, it was a breach of netiquette for them to send it in the first place, but they did honor the unsubscribe requests.
Re:TaxAct (Score:1)
Different approach this year (Score:2, Interesting)
PARENT NOT INFORMATIVE (Score:3, Informative)
I bought TurboTax Basic, as I do every year. (I guess I didn't have my tinfoil hat last year) I opened the box, took the CD out of the paper sleeve, installed it, and started my taxes. They have been finished and printed a month ago.
I didn't bother to look at any of the papers inside, so a quick check... There is no Key or serial number.
Just how does a hash of my hardware lock an install to one PC?
Save your time -- ditch the software entirely (Score:5, Insightful)
This year, I decided my time was just too scarce, so I went to H&R Block. It cost me about $200 (which I can write off next year), but I got a lot more back than I would have otherwise. I even paid for their little audit guarantee (I'm sure it's about as valuable as an extended warranty at Circuit City, but the $27 seemed reasonable).
Now I'm not endorsing H&R Block specifically, but I'd say most of us profressionals here on /. would be better served by simply having a professional do their taxes for them, whether it be a tax return mill like H&R Block, the neighborhood CPA, or someone else. I can tell you that I'll never go back to doing it myself.
And yes, I'm the type of guy who's more than willing to take his car to the local shop for a oil change and lube for $30 than waste the time on it himself.
My wife and kids see far less of me than I like already. Life's too short to piss it away on oil changes and tax returns. :)
Re:Save your time -- ditch the software entirely (Score:2)
Everyone should vote for me as the next president. I'd eliminate the IRS and go to consumption based taxes (sales based) on the federal level.
Re:Save your time -- ditch the software entirely (Score:1)
Dude, you've got my vote! Seriously, if you could manage to get it through Congress. Where do you stand on property taxes and tarifs?
Re:Save your time -- ditch the software entirely (Score:2)
Tax reform will never pass, becuase the Federal Income Tax is a hallucinagenic addictive drug for Congress. They get to take 1/3 or more of my income and then use it to pay someone else's rent in L.A. or make sure a big-name Senator doesn't have to pay for the flood insurance on his beach house. If not that, then I'm sure there is a nice road to nowhere that needs to be built or a few more pork projects that could get funded.
Re:Save your time -- ditch the software entirely (Score:2)
Tariffs would mirror the country we trade with (visas, work-visas, etc... as well).
Consumption based taxes would have to be given a minimum that people don't pay taxes on. For example the first $200 of food per family + $100 per extra family member (documented). Although the numbers for Food, Electricity, Natural Gas/Heating Oil, etc... would be regionally based. In Oklahoma
Re:Save your time -- ditch the software entirely (Score:1)
Now, not everyone follow
Re:Save your time -- ditch the software entirely (Score:2)
The federal banking system is there to create money and monitor the monetary supply.
The positive side effect of taxing everything sales based is there is no easy way (outside of black markets) to avoid taxes if you're an illegal alien, drug dealer, waiter, or any other job that is cash based.
The government doesn't have to operate at strict break-even, a surplus is better than a deficit in my opini
Re:Save your time -- ditch the software entirely (Score:2)
Re:Opposite experience (Score:2)
Re:Opposite experience (Score:2)
I've heard that many "tax professionals" are overrated because it is hard to keep up with the tax code from year to year. Mistakes are probably par for the course. Companies like H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt or whomever often have required continuing education each summer for their employees, so some random Joe or Jane working for one of these companies might actually be better prepared than a genuine CPA.
Re:Opposite experience (Score:1, Interesting)
If you don't have anything special in your tax situation, the
programs will probably work as well as anything else. If
there is something special in your tax situation or
there's been a major change over the past year, you
would do well to consult someone else to help file
(in this case, I wouldn't use one of the big chains).
Best bet would be to find some people who had similar tax situations
for recommendations on an accountant. In your case,
you w
Re:Save your time -- ditch the software entirely (Score:2)
It is worth exactly as much as an extended warranty at Circuit City, i.e., $-27 to you. Extended warranties are of value only to those people who are so bad at planning their lives that they need to spend more to insure themselves against all the small problems in life.
Extended warranties prey upon the poor and the stupid, just like the Lottery and Presidential Canidates.
Re:Save your time -- ditch the software entirely (Score:1)
IRS audit. Not a small problem in life.
Obviously the tax prep company has done the math and figured out it costs them less than $27 per customer to insure against audits. But they are tax professionals. Self-insuring against an audit may well cost more than $27 at year. This is a simple transfer of risk, and for the person who won't miss $27 it might be a good buy.
The extended warrnties are different because they cover items easily replaced. Their cost imp
Re:Save your time -- ditch the software entirely (Score:2)
People are prepared for their tax liability, yes? No, they spent all their money and then some? Then they have a few lessons to learn about life and living within their means. Also, if the IRS really comes down hard on those who lack foresight and are unprepared, they are usually nice enough to do payment plans.
Re:Save your time -- ditch the software entirely (Score:2, Interesting)
My wife and I used to do our taxes ourselves, with either the latest tax software or pencil/paper.
In 2001 we had our friendly neighborhood CPA do it and we got back way more money than if we'd done it ourselves.
I have a tiny side biz doing web sites/programming etc. and she's a counselor (independent contractor in a private group/practice) and our acct. was able to help us get a lot of breaks on business expenses (computer stuff for me), etc. that we NEVER would have thought of ourselves.
Yo
How about QuickTax in Canada? (Score:2)
Does anyone know if there is progress on that front?
Yes. (Score:4, Informative)
I did the math this year, and
was less than YMMV. Of course, it would been even cheaper to do it all on paper...Re:Yes. (Score:3, Interesting)
No protection for me, State or Federal. (Score:5, Informative)
I purchased TurboTax in January while I was on the road. I installed it onto my laptop and put all the preliminary information in place. February 2 my state was ready for download and purchase and I received my second mortgage statement so I installed TurboTax onto my desktop, moved the file over, purchased and downloaded TurboTax State, efiled, and had my refund on February 6th from the state and February 9th from the Federal.
No protection on TurboTax on either Federal or State that I saw.
As for Quicken I've been using it since Quicken for DOS and I've yet to see copy protection on it. The downloadable trials have protection on them ala you can purchase it; and the Quicken Basic version comes with the ability to upgrade to Deluxe by purchasing a key from Intuit, but I've never had a problem with copy protection.
I think in THAT arena it would be suicide. If I lost a computer and had to fight a software company to get my finances back I'd be ticked.
Mathcad DRM - What do I do? (Score:1, Offtopic)
I bought MathCad to assist with my Calculus homework. Much to my dismay, it also uses the same DRM that TurboTax used. There is a service that has to be running for Mathcad to work, and it created a few surrepticiously hidden directories under system32 and the root. I would not have bought the product if I knew it wanted a service running all the time.
For now, I just enable it when I'm working, and disable it otherwise. And to boot (no pun intended),
Re:Mathcad DRM - What do I do? (Score:2)
Quote: Do I call the company and complain?
Duh. If *you* don't complain to the company, and the next person doesn't complain ... then there is no groundswell. Heck, tell them precisely what you told us, "I would not have bought the product if I knew it wanted a service running all the time," and "I feel like I've unknowlingly funded the digital mafia."
And find their forums and Usenet news group, and post the same thing in those places. That might set off the groundswell that you want.
One person can m
Re:Mathcad DRM - What do I do? (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, this is an improvement. Mathsoft's first try at copy protection complained if you had a debugger installed on the machine. If you had Visual C++ installed, Mathcad wouldn't run. I screamed at them about that, and they "fixed" it. People who do number-crunching work are quite likely to use both.
AdAware considers C-Dilla OK. It does some annoying things, hiding data on your hard drive, though. But it seems to be well enough constructed not to mess stuff up.
You'll never really know so long as it's non-free. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:You'll never really know so long as it's non-fr (Score:2)
I was satisfied (Score:3, Interesting)
This year, I purchased the software and found no problems with activation at all. The software installed without connecting to the Internet just fine.
My purchase was especially inspired by a company responding to consumer feedback and I choose to reward such a decision with my $.
Free TurboTax (Score:3, Informative)
There are also other web-based places that have different qualifications for free filing (eg. income restrictions, etc.). Go to www.irs.gov and click on "Free File".
DRM is gone. (Score:2, Informative)
I think long time users who left should give Intuit a little credit for listening to their loyal customers and come back, afterall most other companies would have just ignored the complaints and left the DRM in.
Don't care if DRM is gone, I'M gone. (Score:2)
Last year, because of the product activation nonsense, I switched to TaxCut. I discovered that the products, while not quite clones, are very, very similar in operation and feature sets. Apart from DRM, there would have been very little reason to choose one over the other.
Now I'm a TaxCut customer, and I have absolutely no reason to c
DRM still present (Score:2)
QuickTax in Canada still has DRM (Score:1)
Get the $20 Version (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Get the $20 Version (Score:1, Insightful)
Six digits really isn't a lot of money. Everyone I work with makes six digits and none of us run around lighting cigars with $100 bills. A lot of people making $100k still clip coupons, still buy used cars, still shop at Costco to buy in bulk, still look at the prices of the restaurant items before they order, still travel an extra mile to save 5 cents per gallon on gas. And yes, still do their own taxes.
I wish people would stop acting like those who mak
Re:Get the $20 Version (Score:2)
They should change the election to the Tuesday after Tax Day.