Intuit to Consumers: We OWN You.

You paid for your software, that means you can use it forever, right? Hahahaha no. Virtually all those license agreements (EULAs) you never read make it clear that all software purchases are actually long-term leases, and the companies that sell the products can change the terms of your usage whenever they like. The courts continue to refine whether EULAs are enforceable or not, but in the meantime, companies like Microsoft and Intuit are having fun with them. Most recently, Intuit has said it is disabling several features in Quicken 2004 (only three years old!), a rather shameless ploy to force you to upgrade to Quicken 2007.

This is known in the business as "sunsetting," which essentially means retiring older software or disabling key features so that you have no choice but to upgrade. Intuit's been doing this for years, but Ed Foster notes that the company is picking up the pace: Intuit used to wait five years before sunsetting a product. Now it's down to a mere three.

One user called Intuit to complain and ask for an explanation. His recorded call is up on Consumerist for you to hear. While it's not entirely fair to ask an obviously offshore/outsourced tech support guy to explain the policies of a company he doesn't actually work for, it's still worth a listen. (And bear in mind, Microsoft does this exact same thing with its Money program.)

What can you do about it? Again, Consumerist comes to the rescue: You'll find some good picks on this page that let you do your money management online or offline and for free, without the draconian sunset provisions in the big two financial software programs. Give 'em a try... if Intuit or MSFT are giving you the shaft.

LINK: Quicken and MS Money Are ExtortionWare