I acquired a copy of Quickbooks Pro 2003 [in 2003] that I have used for accounting since. I have never seen a reason to upgrade because the interface works just fine, and it does everything I need it to. Every time I have had to reinstall it after a format, though, getting it working has been more of a pain.

To install and use the copy of Quickbooks, Intuit (the company that makes Quickbooks and Turbotax) requires a serial key, and then activation via either online or the phone. I used the online activation for at least a year, until it stopped working. After that point, I had to call in whenever I needed to install it, talk to a representative in [most likely] India who can barely speak English, give them my serial number, and get back an activation key.

Most unfortunately, this last time I attempted calling in to activate it they claimed (in what somewhat resembled the English language) my serial key was no longer on file, so I could no longer use my product. Fuck them. I was able to find the information I needed in the registry (of which I make backup copies before formats) of my old computer. I just transferred everything from “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Intuit\QuickBooksRegistration\12.0\pro” to my current registry, and everything worked like a charm.

I was also quite upset after buying TurboTax last year (Home & Business Edition, which isn’t exactly cheap) that I could only use it for 1 year.

Because of both of these incidents, I will never again buy an Intuit product, and I hope no one else who reads this does either.