FC: More on TurboTax, which modifies hard drive's boot sectors

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Tue Feb 18 2003 - 14:07:17 PST

  • Next message: Declan McCullagh: "FC: Jim Harper on why Amy Boyer case has nothing to do with "privacy""

    [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.
    To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
    This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
    Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/
    Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Feb 18 2003 - 14:16:42 PST