I’ve been a Streets & Trips user since the program was introduced. It has never been tops in its class, but it was superior to similarly priced products like Delorme’s. With S&T 2009, however, Microsoft falls behind the curve in terms of user interface, map accuracy, technology and, importantly, customer care. The customer care aspect is perhaps the most important. S&T is great for trip planning. However, Microsoft now restricts installation to two computers, which was not the case with earlier versions.

Magix is a European software publisher and has been around for a long time. They publish a range of audio and video products as well as others. Ive been using their video and music products for years. On the whole, the products perform well and are typically updated annually. Some annual versions have been better than others, particularly in terms of stability. In fact, with Movie Edit Pro, the stability issue became so severe a few years ago, I pretty much switched to Cyberlink PowerDirector.

Ive been using TurboTax since it was first published. Some years I find fault with the program but most of the time it just works. My major complaint is the self-advertising for an endless array of other paid offerings, but I seem to be not even noticing them anymore. Since Intuit makes only incremental changes and my tax situation is not complex, it seems to take me a few minutes less each year to complete my taxes because I know the parts of the program I need to use.

My personal favorite these days. I have Adobe Creative Suite and know my way around Adobe Premiere and AfterEffects. But the reality is that most of my video editing needs are light-weight ad don’t require the power of those two programs. I have used Adobe Premiere Elements (an excellent program) and Magix Movie Edit Pro (which has never had a stable version) and the execrable Pinnacle (awful no matter who owned the company, Avid being the absolute worst).

I installed this on a computer running Windows 8.1 64-bit with an Intel i7 processor. No problems with the install and no stability issues with the video editing program to date. But I am having significant problems importing media. Apparently, for example, not all MP4 files are created equal as far as this program is concerned. Or MOV files either. Some open. Some dont. I know quite a bit about video formats and I haven’t called Sony Tech Support yet because I am trying to figure out the issue son my own.

Microsoft itself offers a 30 day money back guaranty on this product. Keep all the packaging because you may want to return this product. I’m a long-time user of Streets & Trips. This release is very disappointing. I use the Points Of Interest function often when I travel to find restaurants near my hotel and such. Earlier editions have been very good in this regard: this edition - in one word - stinks.

I operate a one-person consultancy. Microsoft Office Accounting Professional 2008 has a template for consulting firms with no employees. Sounds great, doesn’t it?nn Well it is and it isn’t. I can’t speak for other consultancies. Mine is very simple and this program is overkill. Installation is relatively straight-forward, although non-accountants (like me) will find the set-up just as mystifying as with any other accounting program. Operation is kind of on the slow side, but the user interface is good.

Intuit is killing the TurboTax product. On one hand, they appear to be trying to make it entirely idiot proof, which means that non-idiots have to wade through endless screens of non-relevant questions, with an array of often misleading options. On the other hand, Intuit seems to be trying to chip away at the included feature set while attempting to monetize the very features they are removing. This is akin to manufacturers who reduce the size of their candy bar to disguise what is actually a price hike: you pay more for less.

Back about a million years ago, when I operated businesses with around 50 employees and hundreds of products. I would have drooled over a product as capable as QuickBooks at this low a price. I bought an IBM System 36 for more than a hundred thousand 1980s dollars and spent tens of thousands more on accounting software that didn’t hold a candle to QuickBooks Premier. Heck, my super-expensive software wouldn’t even do payroll: had to use an outside service for that.

I’ve had it with Quicken. From its bizarre copy protection schemes to the endless promotions of its own products within the program and some of the dumbest programming decisions around, such as downloading all transactions from a single financial institution into one account, even though you have separated them into multiple accounts. I don’t need Quicken making these decisions for me. The endless selling is intrusive and annoying. You have to be very careful that you aren’t initiating some process that won’t end up having you cancel it later.