[TaxAct.com is one alternative (haven't used it myself, but may this year -- I used to use TurboTax) that doesn't have this kind of nutty copy protection. Previous message: http://www.politechbot.com/p-04465.html --Declan] --- From: Mark Whitworth <MWhitworth@quantum-res.com> To: "'politechat_private'" <politechat_private> Subject: RE: Beware of TurboTax, which modifies hard drive's boot sectors Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 11:27:24 -0500 I personally don't see why people are even using TurboTax this year. I myself was a fan of the product and have used it for many year in the past, but now with the IRS offering FREE eFile via the web, you don't need to buy any of those tax products. The IRS is contracting third party vendors to offer free filing for all groups of people (and yes, many offer free services to people in the 50,000+ brackets as well). They run through the web, offer advise/comments, has the same basic screens as the software products you buy in the store, and files electronically for you with no hassles. I say forget TurboTax, just file through the web. No boot sector issues, no privacy issues, and no cost ;) I filed two weeks ago and have already received my refund. Just a little FYI, since I haven't heard anyone mentioning it yet. Mark Whitworth Network Administrator QuantumResources Corporation 300 Arboretum Place Suite 500 Richmond, VA 23236 804.320.4800 mwhitworthat_private --- From: "Simeon Nevel" <snevelat_private> Organization: Just Me, Inc. To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 22:36:52 -0800 Subject: Other issues with Intuit I've been using TurboTax for years to prepare my returns and always purchase and download the CA State Tax module. In years past, the state module installation procedure always left 2 or 3 floppy sized disk images that I burned to CD-Rom along with my actual tax return files in the event that I ever needed to recreate the environment that I used to create the returns. This year, those floppy images were nowhere to be found. I contacted Intuit via the chat feature on the web-site and asked about the state installation files. Despite explicit language in the license that I could make a copy of "the program" for back-up purposes and explicit reference to the floppy image files on their web-site I was told in no uncertain terms that I would *not* be able to back-up the CA state installation package. They promised over and over again that they "would be there" to help me in the event that I ever needed to reinstall the software and did not respond when I asked what I would if they ever went out of business. It took three go-rounds "chatting" with different techs and accusing them several times of violating their own license terms before I managed to brow- beat the tech into making a "one-time exception" to the rules. I was e- mailed the location of ftpable directory where I could download the appropriate software. I was warned that the location would only be good for 8 hours. Simeon Nevel -- snevelat_private =-=-=-=-=-= A rabbit is just an angel with big ears Send mail with Subject: send index to get a listing of files available from my e-mail robot. <*> --- Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 14:00:23 -0500 From: Mark Saks <msaksat_private> Reply-To: msaksat_private To: declanat_private Subject: Re: FC: Beware of TurboTax, which modifies hard drive's boot sectors I guess the Intuit folks must be too young to remember what happened to WordStar when word got out that they had introduced copy protection on their previously unprotected product. Sales tanked even though they were the premiere and most widely used product at the time. They were soon out of business due to newcomer, unprotected Wordperfect. Activation causes many of the same inconvenience problems and worse. Intuit may think their sales base inertia will allow them to inconvenience their clients and put systems and access to data at risk, but I won't take that chance. Goodbye to TurboTax until they wise up and find they will lose more in sales than they may from the few miscreants who use pirated copies. By the way, if any Politech folks have a simple return, there's a nice free Excel spreadsheet at http://home.mchsi.com/~taxcalculator/ that does 1040's plus the most common schedules. -- Mark Saks markat_private --- From: "John K. Taber" <jktaberat_private> To: <declanat_private> Subject: RE: Beware of TurboTax, which modifies hard drive's boot sectors Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 15:38:52 -0600 Organization: none Message-ID: <001401c2d603$cce54a60$5de563d8@hazel> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal While I wasn't aware of this particular "feeture" the activation policy of TurboTax has caused a lot of warnings and negative comments on the newsgroup misc.taxes.moderated. I understand that Quicken has backed off, but I don't know the details. Many of us are using other software, cheaper and less unpleasant. John K. Taber ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. 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