michaelmars Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 I posted this on the official board. Others that were at the NY trade show [hi Ken] may have a different feeling but actions speak louder than words and since the show where everyone blasted them for their lack of communication, their communication cut off totally. It's so apparent that the board moderators have abandoned the board unless they are answering people in direct emails. I haven't seen a post from ATX in the past 2-3 weeks. I spent about 2 hours at the NY trade show discussing issues with the new president and all his minions. Very specific talks about current issues, improvements, my past improvements that got implemented to the program and much more. It was a good session and everyone was taking notes of not only my comments but those of the other handful of atxer's there. Some dealt with tech issues, some with functionality, some with customer service. Although I didn't use the 2012 program, I offered to beta test the 2013 and perhaps I would come back but in any case I would evaluate the demo and give my feedback on functionality. [i have about 10 emails from the developers over the past few years where my improvements got implemented and I even got my program free one year because of the bugs I found] In order to test 2013 I would need to do a few returns in 2012 so I can see how the roll over is working. Again I was offering to do this on my own dime since I really do like logistics and testing of functionality of things. I also would love to confidently come back next year. So a clueless atx minion called me and said, "I am calling because I was told you have some issues to discuss" clueless to my 2 hours of conversation, clueless to the notes that managers of tech support, customer support and developers took and acted incredulous that I would expect the complete 2012 program for free. After expressing my shock and disgust at the fact she was so out of the loop and wasting my time with this call, I took back my offer to help atx. Well she must have spoken to the gods that be because later on I received an apology email for her lack of understanding and the next day I received the complete program in the mail. I am only posting this for those that still have hope that they are working diligently to put out a good 2013 program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry O Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm - - can you keep us all posted please??? I think the only issue with your 2012 program is that it has been up-dated to version 12.17, with is somewhat functional. It would be an interesting perspective to have you attempt to use the first 13 versions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfassett Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Michael - I just received a canned email from Jason Marx which sounds like it is in response to your comments. But the gist of the email was blah, blah, blah. It sounds like it was an attempt to "get something out there" - anything - just get something out there. It is long on promise and short on substance. Where have I seen that before? Anyway, just thought I would let you know. It does not matter one way or the other to me - I have moved on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richcpaman Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Ron: Have you moved on from ATX? Or just from worrying about last years problems? I haveto spend $4k to upgrade my computer systems, to load a $1,500 program, that would have no guarantee of working... And I will be stuck running Win8... Its tough to make THAT decision.. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanmcq Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 You can buy a Win 7 computer. I just did from Dell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfassett Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Rich - I am upgrading my entire computing system, server with server 2008 and workstations with win 7 (my geek guy doesn't even like to sell win 8). I have moved on from ATX. Just way too much uncertainty and double talk coming from the corporate offices for my liking. I am going to be using Pro System fx for the foreseeable future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted June 5, 2013 Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 I think the email was just pr, trying to keep as many on board ATX as possible. I don't think they'll really know what the fallout is until people stay or leave for the 2013 program. I think it will take a few years for them to regain users and confidence in their program. For me personally, I haven't begun to check the other programs. Still trying to get thru the backlog of work, and relax a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfassett Posted June 5, 2013 Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 The deciding issue for me was "yes, 2013 will work fine on a network"; "no, 2013 will not work on a network", and back and forth and back and forth. I have no desire to re-visit 2012. Granted, I did not have the issues that some had, but I think that was just the luck of the draw and a lot more hours. That said, a 90 hour per week tax season turned out to be a 112 hour per week tax season mostly due to the ATX hampering of productivity. I have been given no reason to believe that ATX has solved that problem for the network environment. I have previously stated, and will state again, anyone running a stand alone system should have a very good product in ATX for 2013. I can not say the same for those running a network. Thus and therefore, I saddled my horse, did my due diligence and will soon ride into the sunset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted June 5, 2013 Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 I'm a one person office and run a stand alone system. I too didn't have the major problems with ATX. But I haven't liked the slowness of the program for some years (and there were some other quirks). And this year, the slowness was unbearable. I'm leaning toward Drake but will wait until later this year to decide. But I really want more speed, being a one person office, I need it to be more efficient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted June 5, 2013 Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 If speed is your main priority, I haven't seen anything that tops Drake in that category. Since time & expertise are our merchandise, speed = money. That clinched it for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted June 5, 2013 Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 I have been chosen to be a beta tester for the 2013 program. The head of development called me personally to ask about my lates posts on this board. He and I spent at least an hour discussing what is going to be changed for 2013. (I started the conversation telling him my total skepticism) He indicated that the developers must make "...a complete infrastructure change of the software..." for 2013 and that is what is happening. I will keep everyone apprised of what I discover. I also told him that for me to do a beta test, the program I will test must be FULL and totally operational. Not the half-baked, half the features disabled software that had been given to beta testers for 2012. He assured me that would be the case. All that said, we will still probably pull the trigger and use different software at the firm for 2013. I am hopeful, but cautiously skeptical. More information as I get it. I promise the REAL story about 2013 as I test it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted June 5, 2013 Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 If speed is your main priority, I haven't seen anything that tops Drake in that category. Since time & expertise are our merchandise, speed = money. That clinched it for me. I agree with JohnH on Drake's speed. I too have tested many tax prep software this year and Drake by far has them beat on the speed issue even on older computers with just 1G memory! Would any stand alone ATX user settle for ATX 2013 speed if it was at least as good as the 2011 version? I think that is a key factor for those who are still on the fence and fearing the cost and trouble to do a complete conversion to a brand new software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmars Posted June 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 I have been chosen to be a beta tester for the 2013 program. The head of development called me personally to ask about my lates posts on this board. He and I spent at least an hour discussing what is going to be changed for 2013. (I started the conversation telling him my total skepticism) He indicated that the developers must make "...a complete infrastructure change of the software..." for 2013 and that is what is happening. I will keep everyone apprised of what I discover. I also told him that for me to do a beta test, the program I will test must be FULL and totally operational. Not the half-baked, half the features disabled software that had been given to beta testers for 2012. He assured me that would be the case. All that said, we will still probably pull the trigger and use different software at the firm for 2013. I am hopeful, but cautiously skeptical. More information as I get it. I promise the REAL story about 2013 as I test it. I also told them that I will load the 2012 program but will not touch anything on my computer to make it work, it either loads and works without tweaks or it goes in the garbage. They accepted this condition. At this point how can they hope to make 2013 work when they can't seem to fix 2012? Where the Marx letter does seem like a direct response to my post, even my ego won't allow me to believe that. The ironic thing is that at the trade show they were told by quite a few people that the program not working was forgivable, everyone blows something once in a while and is entitled to a mistake, but what was unforgivable was their lack or communication, the taking of responsibility, lack of offering of fixes, ie giving prosystem fx, full refunds, etc. I saw 5-6 heads wearing atx shirts and one guy in a suit all nodding in agreement. Now 6 weeks later, the first communication from that same guy who was nodding in his suit says nothing that wasn't already said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted June 5, 2013 Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 >>He indicated that the developers must make "...a complete infrastructure change of the software..." for 2013 and that is what is happening.<< Sounds like a complete rewrite to me, especially with the Raven database issues? The question begs, is there enough time between now and year end to do all this and do an extensive beta test to assure success in the network environment? Should ATX go through its users profiles and figure out what percentage of their users are on network and stand alone? Perhaps make a strategic decision to support stand alone only for now and offer network users other options (Taxwise or prosystemsFx)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted June 5, 2013 Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 >>He indicated that the developers must make "...a complete infrastructure change of the software..." for 2013 and that is what is happening.<< Sounds like a complete rewrite to me, especially with the Raven database issues? The question begs, is there enough time between now and year end to do all this and do an extensive beta test to assure success in the network environment? Should ATX go through its users profiles and figure out what percentage of their users are on network and stand alone? Perhaps make a strategic decision to support stand alone only for now and offer network users other options (Taxwise or prosystemsFx)? These are the reasons we are changing software in addition to doing the beta testing. The beta testing is in the faint hope that things will be fixed. They are still using the Raven database, but in the network scenario, how the program accesses the database is being completely reworked. He explained to me how the changes will work, and they are on the right track. "All design resources are dedicated to making the changes." I suggested to him that they need to incorporate tax professionals with computer knowledge as part of the development team. This is something they are severely lacking. Skeptically hopefull, but still changing software. The 12.16 update sealed the deal on changing software for 2013. As I posted before, I will keep everyone on this board informed as I go along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richcpaman Posted June 5, 2013 Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 Ron: Thanks for the update. I don't think I will be back for ATX. Sorry, I have just lost faith. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HV Ken Posted June 5, 2013 Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 At this point how can they hope to make 2013 work when they can't seem to fix 2012? While I would prefer seeing updates in 2012 to give me confidence, if their development effort needs to be focused on fixing the system so they can have a 2013 release, there is not much effort they can also put into 2012, since it is somewhat stable at this point. I am disappointed at what seems to be a lack of software development infrastructure to fix bugs in 2012 and continue to roll out maintenance updates that can marginally improve the program I still have to use through October and beyond. It is not clear to me how to do a full beta test on 2013 as I cannot efile an actual return and experience the complete flow through the process. As much as my desire is to remain with ATX, I am really on the fence with no concrete way to have confidence that they will deliver for 2013. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted June 5, 2013 Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 >>It is not clear to me how to do a full beta test on 2013 as I cannot efile an actual return and experience the complete flow through the process.<< During software testing they can do a simulation. Basically you will submit the e-file from the software and it will be transmitted to the testing EFC and then it will generate an ACK. To the user it will appear as if the IRS responded with the ACK. I don't think the E-file functionality was the show stopper. It was the database methodology as described in prior posts that sank the ship. Someone decided to use it in a non standard way without doing adequate testing in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.