Do not buy TurboTax this year! Read Inside

[guyver01]

One reason i have an accountant do my taxes...

no chance of spyware... and i know it's being done right.

 

[tontod]

You can also go to their website, and do your taxes there using a secure login. I did that last year, and it worked great.

 

[compudog]

If you look at the Intuit site FAQ concerning SafeCast and C-DILLA (HERE) They kind of skirt the issue of what C-Dilla actually does. They mention it, but then refer you back to the SafeCast crap. No TT for me this year, even if Staples give it away with a hard drive or something. I hate Intuit.:|

 

[glenn1]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm joining the boycott, will advise my family and everyone else i know to do so, and have already posted the story on some of the investor boards i frequent. The stockholders of INTU will be absolutely infuriated when they find out this was done. I also hope that national news broadcasts pick up this story.

 

[UltraQuiet]

Here's a thread from another site that includes a response from Intuit.


DSLR

 

[merlocka]

Originally posted by: tontod
You can also go to their website, and do your taxes there using a secure login. I did that last year, and it worked great.

So did I, and it worked great. No reason to install TT, IMO.

 

[spanky]

i use Tax Cut... any probs with that?

 

[Gibson486]

Hmmmm...i just got a free copy of turbo tax too.....

 

[ultimatebob]

Gee, it sounds like it's time for AdAware to add TurboTax to their list of known spyware applications :disgust:

 

[mithrandir2001]

I think the best thing to do is buy a competing tax filing product. We can rant endlessly on this issue but they best way to stick it to Intuit is to simply not give them our business, as others have mentioned before. I wouldn't necessarily call it a "boycott" but the inclusion of SAFEcast and C-Dilla inside TT make the product far less appealing and competitive. Let the free market teach Intuit a lesson!

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: glenn1
Thanks for the heads up. I'm joining the boycott, will advise my family and everyone else i know to do so, and have already posted the story on some of the investor boards i frequent. The stockholders of INTU will be absolutely infuriated when they find out this was done. I also hope that national news broadcasts pick up this story.

Please (anyone) explain the difference between Intuit's TubboTax "activation" and M$'s XP "activation". (am I supposed to hate Intuit's more . . . and 'why'?)

 

[UltraQuiet]

Originally posted by: mithrandir2001
I think the best thing to do is buy a competing tax filing product. We can rant endlessly on this issue but they best way to stick it to Intuit is to simply not give them our business, as others have mentioned before. I wouldn't necessarily call it a "boycott" but the inclusion of SAFEcast and C-Dilla inside TT make the product far less appealing and competitive. Let the free market teach Intuit a lesson!

I agree with you. I have already received my copy of Turbo in the mail and unless Intuit fixes this I won't be using it. However, I do think that the "boycott" so to speak would be even more effective if Intuit understands exactly why people are switching. I will write them a letter asking them to take this out of their product and if they don't I will tell them I am using something else because of it.

 

[Miramonti]

No one has confirmed that this is actually spyware in turbotax so lets get some facts.

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: glenn1
Thanks for the heads up. I'm joining the boycott, will advise my family and everyone else i know to do so, and have already posted the story on some of the investor boards i frequent. The stockholders of INTU will be absolutely infuriated when they find out this was done. I also hope that national news broadcasts pick up this story.

Please (anyone) explain the difference between Intuit's TurboTax "activation" and M$'s XP "activation". (am I supposed to hate Intuit's more . . . and 'why'?)

Here's my concern, since I have been using TurboTax for years. Let's say I need some information from my 1998 taxes, and it's not something that I can get from my printed copies of the tax forms. Today I can fire up the 1998 version of TurboTax and get everything I entered into the program that year. What about three years from now? I surely will have changed my PC by then, and I won't be able to activate the 2002 version any more. Intuit doesn't support old versions forever.

This "activation" crap is a particularly dangerous thing with financial software, as it's not unusual to need to go back and access older information.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: kranky

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: glenn1
Thanks for the heads up. I'm joining the boycott, will advise my family and everyone else i know to do so, and have already posted the story on some of the investor boards i frequent. The stockholders of INTU will be absolutely infuriated when they find out this was done. I also hope that national news broadcasts pick up this story.

Please (anyone) explain the difference between Intuit's TurboTax "activation" and M$'s XP "activation". (am I supposed to hate Intuit's more . . . and 'why'?)

Here's my concern, since I have been using TurboTax for years. Let's say I need some information from my 1998 taxes, and it's not something that I can get from my printed copies of the tax forms. Today I can fire up the 1998 version of TurboTax and get everything I entered into the program that year. What about three years from now? I surely will have changed my PC by then, and I won't be able to activate the 2002 version any more. Intuit doesn't support old versions forever.

This "activation" crap is a particularly dangerous thing with financial software, as it's not unusual to need to go back and access older information.

I get it - - - However, I am playing Devil's advocate here - - -
How is this Intuit "crap" different from XP's "crap"?

What happens in 3-5 years when I want to access some important archive and I have a completely different O/S (Langhorn) and Computer Hardware? M$ doesn't support old versions forever (either).

I think it was a dangerous precedent to let M$ "get away" with their "acticvation system". I believe the "door" is "open" and this IS the 'wave of the future'.

 

[db]

Be careful if you send an angry email to Intuit. They have been known to return worms if you really let them have it.

 

[db]

I can't blame anybody for being suspicious considering the past and current behavior of so many businesses.

"When you use the Start Settings Add/Remove to uninstall the C-Dilla License Management System
you get a popup box telling you this software allows you to remove C-dilla decryption and decompression
driver, but warns you that removing this software (c-dilla) may prevent other products from working correctly."
Source link.

I'm just curious if this is the generic c-dilla program (used to prevent copying to CD, and monitors "protected" data and songs), or if it's narrowly adapted to TurboTax only?

 

[notfred]

Wow, you guys are really paraniod. C-Dilla is not spyware. It's used for copy pretection. 3D Studio Max started using it a while back instead of the hardware lock they used to use (It required hooking a little device up to the serial port for 3D Studio Max to run). It's license management software that allows you to install an application on a whole network full of machines, with licenses for, say, 20 seats. You can install it on 100 machines, and when each machine starts the app in questions, it contacts the license server, and unless there's 20 licenses in use, it will allow the applciation to run. Maya and AutoCAD use similar software.

You might as well say Half-Life was spyware, cause it installed "Sierra Utilities" which didn't automatically uninstall with Half-Life.

 

[Sundog]

Hmm...so this is in TT, does anyone know if it is on the basic or deluxe quicken 2003?

 

[glenn1]

How is this Intuit "crap" different from XP's "crap"?

Slightly different circumstances. I still have a choice of which version to use when it comes to Windows, i don't HAVE to use WinXP - i can continue using an older Microsoft operating system like W2K (which is precisely what i do, since i don't care to play MSFT's activation games). OTOH, I can't really do that with TurboTax, as Congress changes the tax laws on an ongoing basis, so i don't have any choice about which version of TT to run. I can't fire up TurboTax 1997 edition and use it for my tax return this year, whereas i could run TT02 on any supported OS, not just WinXP.

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: notfred
Wow, you guys are really paraniod. C-Dilla is not spyware. It's used for copy pretection. 3D Studio Max started using it a while back instead of the hardware lock they used to use (It required hooking a little device up to the serial port for 3D Studio Max to run). It's license management software that allows you to install an application on a whole network full of machines, with licenses for, say, 20 seats. You can install it on 100 machines, and when each machine starts the app in questions, it contacts the license server, and unless there's 20 licenses in use, it will allow the applciation to run. Maya and AutoCAD use similar software.

You might as well say Half-Life was spyware, cause it installed "Sierra Utilities" which didn't automatically uninstall with Half-Life.

Did Sierra Utilities use your processor in the background. this thing uses resources and you don't even know it. I don't mind them doing some sort of activation thing, but to uninstall the program and still have something running is completely different. I say Fvck em, I'll do taxcut or taxAct.

KK

 

[chrisjor]

this is sad. I will wait until someone posts a utility that can disable or remove C-dilla and all it's remnants before using TT. I really liked the program. Maybe I will do mine online or give Taxcut a chance.

If someone finds such a program...let us know.

 

[kt]

Originally posted by: gopunk

Originally posted by: Placer14

Originally posted by: Snatchface
I personally plan on going to their on-line live support feature and asking many, many questions about this...as frequently as possible .

That doesn't do anything but piss off innocent 3rd party support people. We hate people like you.

exactly... all that will happen is that the support people go to their manager to ask how to reply, manager gives them some BS line to recite that doesn't really give a definitive answer or is just a flat out denial, and they'll just give you that response every time.

Hmmm.. so, why are these support people hired for again? Last I checked, companies hire support people to give support to customers. I don't see anything wrong if a customer ask for support. And if I don't know how to do something with their software, shouldn't I be calling for support from the company that make the software? The support people aren't innocent 3rd party bystander. They are PAID to do their job. Whether the job be supporting annoying customers or not, they are to do what they are paid for.

 

[The Stigenator]

I think there should be an opensource free version made..

 

[chrisjor]

another random bump