Earlier this year, Microsoft started releasing Free software as “Express” versions. For instance, all the visual studio express stuff is great for the hobbyist or curious who don’t want to drop loads of cash to investigate and learn. Introduced Sunday evening, we now also have Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007 (MOAE for short) in this same category.
I’m not sure how exactly Microsoft plans to publicize stuff like this (stealth?)… I found it in an article today at a ZDNet Microsoft oriented blog. Have a look at that link, it’ll go into a bit more detail about product features than I intend.
I’ve been a QuickBooks user for the last five years. In general it’s been very useful to help track my little side business. It’s also pretty much the only game in town, so the forced upgrades every couple of years become tedious. So, let me start by saying that MOAE appears to have done a fine job in importing my business data from my QB Basic install. The import wizard is simple to use and moved over 5 years of data in just over a minute.
The import is (arguably) not perfect, mind you. For instance, I would’ve liked to have found the closed invoices brought forward for the current fiscal year. But, if the intent is to stop using QB yesterday and convert to MOAE today, the conversion works just fine. Open invoices are brought forward, bank accounts all start with yesterday’s balance as opening balance. Actually, not just bank account balances, but all chart of accounts entries come forward with accurate starting balances. Want the history? I need to open up QB. But going forward, everything is here in MOAE ready to go.
What do you want to be aware of? You’ll see some up-selling stuff and ads in the application. Not a big shock and not all that different than what I’ve seen using QB Basic. You’ll also need some MS Office stuff installed. For instance, I can create, view and print an invoice. But I need a minimum of Word 2000 installed if I intend to email it. I suspect I’ll stumble over some similar items along the way, but that’s not really a deal breaker for me. I own Work XP (or is it 2k3?) just haven’t re-installed it on here since my last reload as I’ve been using the online word processors.
The PayPal integration seems cool, but I haven’t waded into that aspect yet.
Oh, and brace yourself, you’ll be getting SQL Server 2005 Express installed as part of the deal. If you already have it, pay attention during the install process and you’ll see an advanced option where you can point MOAE at your existing database instance.
Overall, I’m a bit more impressed than I expected to be. My plan is to run both MOAE and QB side by side for the next month or so and try to decide which I like best. I certainly like the price of this one though!
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October 31st, 2006 
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I think MS is trying to take over the world. Ok, so they always have been, but I think they are tripling their efforts.
I work for a company that does outsourced call center stuff. If you go to http://officelive.microsoft.com you’ll see they have a “new” thing where they will host your website and give you a domain and blah blah blah. It’s currently free now while it’s in beta. If you go to http://officelive.microsoft.com/WebHosting.aspx you’ll see a click to call button in the upper left corner. If you click that it’ll set up a phone call to, yep, you guessed it, me. Or at least one of the 8 of us that are taking those calls.
Heyas SR! You’re probably the closest to a Microsoft employee I’ve had here so far.
[...] October, I wrote about Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007 (product link). I think it’s time to make the change. The price is right, at any [...]
does anybody know how to stop the advertisements in Microsoft Office accounting express?