Make the financial side of your business less painful by using an accounting package. It will not only make your life easier, but will keep you informed of your current cash flow situation. It will also save you a lot of headaches when preparing for taxes and probably save you fees with your accountant. Immersion Technology uses QuickBooks and as a member of the Intuit Developers Network we have received early access to QuickBooks 2008. This new version of QuickBooks makes it easier for you and your accountant to work together, improved integration with other software (Outlook, Excel), and an improved help interface. It also can integrate with other applications and your web site. Upgrade from QuickBooks 2007 & Installation Process

If you download this version from the web the first thing you’ll notice is that instead of a single large file you get a quick 500KB download manager. This makes the installation process a bit easier and keeps your browser from timing out and having to reattempt downloading the software multiple times. If you prefer the boxed set it will be available in retail stores shortly. Immersion Technology or other vendors can also pre-order a copy for you. I recommend installing it your primary server or book keepers computer first and then install it on client machines second. Total installation time with a high speed Internet connection or CD Drive and modern computer should be about 20-30 minutes. This includes software extraction, copying, setup, registry values, modules, and conversion of existing company files if applicable. You will be prompted throughout the installation for any important decisions. For instance Google Desktop can help you quickly find invoices and other information, but may expose certain secure information without the normal password verification that QuickBooks provides. Also you may not want to replace your previous version of QuickBooks until you are sure you want the new version. So consider each option and make the choice that makes sense to you.

Once I started QuickBooks 2008 it asked me the same questions about how I wanted to customize the application as I did when I installed the original version. I would have expected it to use the previous preferences rather than ask again. It also didn’t remember where my QuickBooks company files were located. So you may want to take note of this prior to the installation. It will then ask you to upgrade your company file, which includes backing up the previous version. Once the upgrade is complete you will be asked to register the product. Again it will ask the same questions as previous versions of QuickBooks.

Initial Reaction on First ViewYou may want to take a moment and review the tutorials and guides for the new version. It is the same intro screen as before, so before you click out of it don’t miss this opportunity to find out more about the new features of this version. The first thing I noticed is they removed all co-branding. The marketing link no longer includes the Google logo. I suppose they did this to allow for relationships among multiple providers and to launch their new Get Customers service, currently in Beta. Generally the interface is completely unchanged. Great for those who resist change, but kind of a let down for those who enjoy it. There are even more plugs for Intuit’s services throughout. Informative, but a waste of real-estate.

Conclusion

If you like to be on the leading edge or have avoided the last couple of new versions of QuickBooks I recommend upgrading. If you are planning to buy QuickBooks make sure to get a copy of the 2008 version online or at a local store when it becomes available. I’ll update this article with any major problems or issues in the new version that I uncover. It is a solid program, but probably not worth the upgrade unless you have a special need the new version provides.

Resources

• Compare QuickBooks 2008 Editions
• New Features in QuickBooks 2008

Updates

As promised we will be updating this with any additional observations and comments about this new version of QuickBooks.

• 9/27/2007 - Make sure you run all updates to the previous version before upgrading. Otherwise you will get prompted everytime you open QuickBooks 2008 to install an update and then it will warn you that the update is for a previous version and will not be performed. It continues to repeat this cycle. So save yourself some annoyances and make sure to run your old QuickBooks program and install the prompted updates before performing the upgrade.
• 10/20/2007 - After a month of using QuickBooks 2008 I haven’t run into any major bugs or problems.  There have been some minor changes in work flow.

If you have any experiences or questions about QuickBooks 2008 or any other addition feel free to add a comment below.