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I had a brainstorm! We should all petition the ATX Communities database from ATX in order to continue this valuable service with all of it's history. I'm certain that they will initially resist this request, however a class action from all of us threatening not to renew for 2007 may have some direct impact on their final decision. What does the community think of this pursuit?

I am almost positive that the old ATX Community is incompatible with the infrastructure that this site is running on. Technologically speaking, everything is most likely different from server operating system and software, to the database engine used. The easiest solution would be for them to at least allow customers to access the archive. I don't think that's very likely. Another possibility that wouldn't require them to host anything, would be that they provide a static copy of the archive in plain HTML (no database) that I could host here. That's probably even less likely. I guess it doesn't hurt to ask, though. :)

I too am aggrieved about the precipitous shutdown of the ATX Communities, which had provided a raft of help whenever one couldn't call (I spent 45 minutes on-hold, with no answer, a week ago) -- or before one even should call -- ATX's support staff; so I feel I must explore alternatives for next year. Whenever one's 'provider' is bought, the users shoulder the cost, as happened when Intuit bought Lacerte -- which I had 'been happy with' for several years. So that's when I switched to ATX -- what, four or so years ago. Whom do I look to next? My client base is wildly diverse: I've got "expatriates" in Hong Kong, storefronts in NYC, multistate-visiting consultants, trusts & estates from Michigan to Texas, partnerships & S-corporations all over the place. I'd been happy with ATX's Total Tax Office, but I've really lost the sense that ATX/CCH/Kluwers is going the way I can rely upon. I'm tempted to re-vist Lacerte, to finally attend one of the several 'seminars' Drake sponsors on Long Island -- my home base -- or even re-visit the products of the largest firms which I'd used when I'd been a Big 8/6/4 employee, almost 10 years ago, before going out on my own. My point is, ATX @#$%ed me over this year, so, as much as I appreciated being able to hack their worksheets -- whenever they failed to appreciate the finer points of one tax law or another -- I'm prone to migrate to a 'database' system next. It's getting to the point that cost might be secondary to quality-of-service, and ATX definitely lost its 'distinction' of the latter term this Season. Most grateful for *everything* everyone has to offer on this forum about alternatives to ATX. Very truly yours, a New York CPA