Miscellaneous Comments posted by Russ Paul-Jones
Some miscellaneous comments posted by Russ Paul-Jones from the MSN Money team.
October 3rd 2005
A query about doing technical analysis on downloaded stock/fund quotes
Well, you can see 50-day or 200-day (simple) moving averages, as well as some other
technical indicators. If you are familiar with the deluxe chart control on MSN Money,
MS Money has the same features.
September 28th 2005
With regards a user no longer being able to download Microsoft Money 2002 statements
from Wachovia
From time to time, our partner institutions review which versions of Money to support,
and we understand that Wachovia has chosen to support Money 2003 and above.
July 22nd, 2005
The main file we use for our performance tests is about 16MB. We do functional tests
that create and manipulate larger files than that.
To reiterate what the MVPs have said, we don't have any performance or functional
limitations that should become evident at 10MB. I don't know the genesis of the
PSS advice around this file size, but it wasn't a result of the product team's advice,
and we'll try to get better information to our users in the future.
July 18th, 2005
On rebates
Before too many folks head out and get disappointed, you should know that you are
correct cannot get both rebates for this product. The offer states that the Microsoft
rebate is only good for products with the rebate sticker, and the boxes in Costco
won't have the Microsoft rebate sticker.
I think the product is worth $19.99, but you'll have to make that decision yourself.
July 12th, 2005
Regards performance of Microsoft Money 2006 Deluxe
In the hopes of including some real content, I'll point out that we do seem to have
unusually bad performance on some laptop machines. I think it has to do with how
some of our implementation details test hard drive performance, but the Dev Manager
thinks I'm nuts. It is true, though anecdotal, that some machines have responded
well to the latest updates to controller drivers.
January 13th, 2003
On Internet Explorer Requirements
Our decision on what version of IE to require is a little more deliberative than
that. We start with the previously required version, then see if any features in
the new version are worth relying on. There is a cost, especially for those that
download the product, in having our customers upgrade IE, so we don't take it for
granted.
In short, if we install a version of IE, we do have some features that rely on it.
I wouldn't expect that the product work well with an earlier version.
April 13th, 2004
On finding missing check numbers
The Monthly Report has a "Gaps in Check Sequences" section. It appears in the middle
of the report, more or less.
October 26th, 2002
Language used to program Microsoft Money
Well, we link with the MFC dll, so it can't be too much of a secret that we use
VC++ to a great extent.
August 1st, 2002
On corruption
When we examine a corrupt file, we take these steps. First, we analyze the corruption
and determine exactly what bits in the file are wrong. Then, we determine how to
repair the corruption. This work is then carried over to the super salvage tool.
We periodically update the versions of this tool that product support has, as well
as the version on the web. Third, we then track the corruption back to the product,
if possible. If there is a cause in the code, we fix it for future versions and
consider a QFE for current versions.
To get those corrupt files, we work with beta testers and product support to get
real-live corrupt files.
June 26th, 2002
On (emailing) invoices
Yes, we render invoices in HTML for printing, but we also install a particular version
of the browser to render it. The HTML we generate is a little idiosyncratic and
makes particularly strong use of features like CSS. So the problem with emailing
them is that your customer may not have a browser that is compatible with the HTML,
and then they can't read the invoice at all (or perhaps misread it). So we degrade
to a fairly low common denominator. At least with text you're pretty sure that your
customers are seeing what you see.
Comments on your desire for more D&B [Deluxe and Business] features, more visible
updates, and wanting to pay more money for the product noted.
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