Switching from Microsoft Money to Quicken

As a user of Microsoft Money for 11 years, when Microsoft announced that they were discontinuing Microsoft Money, I was understandably interested in finding a suitable replacement.  I immediately checked out several options, including online options such as Mint, Wesabe, and Pocketsmith.  I evaluated desktop options such as Moneydance, GNUCash, and Quicken.  After several days of testing them, I settled on Quicken as the best alternative to Money.

For very details oriented users such as myself, Quicken's major strengths are as follows:

• Categories & sub-categories - multi-level categorization
• Excellent graphing and charting capabilities
• Constant display of financial summary "scoreboard" (configurable Accounts bar)
• Excellent balance forecasting, based on scheduled bills & income
• Full calendar view of all scheduled bills, income, and financial events
  
• Tags - the ability to attach multiple tags to each transaction (including the ability to use in reporting)
  
• Additional tools (Home Inventory Manager & Emergency Records Manager)
  

As a long-time Money user, there are some differences that are weaknesses, in my opinion:

• Sub-categories do not work well in some reporting situations (major categories seem to take preference).
• Built-in reports and graphs are editable, but the edits must be saved as a "user report" rather than as a replacement for the built-in module.
• The interface is not as "slick" as Money, though it is better than Moneydance or GNUCash (Mint, by far, has the "slickest" interface).
• The budget setup tool can be a bit "touchy"--sometimes resetting values, particularly when the monthly amounts are not consistent.
• Updating stock quotes and other online information is not transparent to the user. A popup appears each time you open Quicken, asking if you would like to update your information.
  

There are some features I would like to see added:

• An iPhone / IPod touch app that integrates with the Desktop software (vs. the Quicken Online app)
• Better ability to import huge Money files (11 years of history)--I tried the import routine with limited results.  I finally chose to set a "switchover" date and maintain my old copy of Money for historical purposes.
  

Overall, Quicken is a good replacement for a long-time Money user.  As indicated above, there are some "wins" and some "losses", but I would give the edge to the "wins".  I count myself a happy Quicken user so far.