New look QuickBooks goes Web Services

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 04 June 2008 09:16

Business IT - Technology

To make it easier to locate information in what may be a hugely expended database, a special version of Google Desktop Search is incorporated. This familiar search interface can return a list of bills, cheques and other items matching the criteria, and can be restricted to QuickBooks or extended to all files on the computer.

Also new is the adoption of a "two click principle" in the user interface. The idea is that no more than two mouse clicks are needed to get from any main screen to any function provided by the software.

"We've made the product's functionality more accessible," says Dixon, but familiar layouts for specific tasks such as creating invoices mean users quickly feel comfortable with the new version.

Other changes include greater customisability of reports on a per-user basis, Word and Excel integration allowing the easy incorporation of QUickBooks fields in Office documents, and additional functions to make it easier for an external accountant to work on the business's books.

The new version has been well received so far. "We are attracting a higher volume of new business than we have in the past," says Dixon. "It's pretty exciting."

Macintosh users may be disappointed to hear there's still no short to medium term prospect of the return of QuickBooks to their favoured platform. While Dixon would like to see that happen, even though Sybase SQL Anywhere is available for Mac OS X, QuickBooks makes extensive use of Windows technologies such as MFC and .Net. Reckon spent $A5.5 million bringing QuickBooks 2008/09 to market. and it "would take us probably 50 years to get that back" on a Mac version, he explains.

As usual, there is a way round the omission - plus a special deal for students.

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