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

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[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: "'politech () politechbot com'" <politech () politechbot com>
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
mwhitworth () quantumresources net
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From: "Simeon Nevel" <snevel () sonic net>
Organization: Just Me, Inc.
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
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

--
snevel () sonic net =-=-=-=-=-= 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.  <*>

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Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 14:00:23 -0500
From: Mark Saks <msaks () ccp edu>
Reply-To: msaks () surveyguy com
To: declan () well com
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
mark () surveyguy com

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From: "John K. Taber" <jktaber () tacni net>
To: <declan () well com>
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






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