Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Looks great, worth upgrading
Pros: The new interface is clean and intuitive. Intuit has seriously rethought the product's design and they got it right. Quicken 2003 delivers a lot of information without cluttering the screen. Fantastic investment tools. Upgrade process went very smoothely. Cons: Too many ads. Don't like Accounts and Calendar listings popping up in child windows. Don't completely understand why the 'Banking Center' is now the 'Cash Flow Center'. Can no longer do online updates in the background. Verdict: With Quicken 2003, Intuit has redeemed itself after its shoddy 2002 product. Still the best personal financial management tool out there. Lots of nice enhancements. I'm glad I upgraded. Current Quicken users should seriously consider upgrading to 2003. Money users who track investments should also switch over to Quicken.
Rating: - Offers a New, Streamlined Interface!
After reading several negative reviews, I was somewhat reluctant to purchase this version of Quicken. Still, there are many positive reviews as well, so I decided to take the plunge. As far as I am concerned, it was a good decision and a very pleasant surprise.The main change for 2003 is the interface, which is an improvement over previous versions. It is much easier now to see how one's overall financial situation is progressing, in addition to keeping an eye on individual accounts. The interface does require some adjustment time for those of us who are veteran Quicken users, because it is quite different. For a new Quicken user, my sense is that the program would be much easier to learn than the previous editions. There are some advertisements for other Quicken products within the software, but they are placed in positions that aren't intrusive or distracting. The ads also offer information about services that would be helpful to many users. While some persons may be annoyed by any kind of ad in a product they have purchased, the practice doesn't bother me. Intuit has taken a large step forward with this new, streamlined interface, a change lamented by many veteran Quicken users. In my opinion however, the upgrade from Quicken Deluxe 2002 was a wise investment. For dissatisfied users of Microsoft Money or persons new to personal financial software, I highly recommend this product. For current users of Quicken who are willing to exercise patience with a new, redesigned layout, I recommend it as well.
Rating:  - Reconcile Bug from 2002 not fixed in 2003, 401K problems too
I have three major issues with quicken 2003. I upgraded from Quicken 2000. It changes the file format and so once you convert your old Quicken file to 2003, there's no going back, unless you backed up before upgrading (Be sure to do this).The new file format seems to be a memory hog, I have 512M RAM installed on this system and edit photos and lots of heavy memory usage items and have never run out of memory, but with Q2003, suddenly I don't have enough memory, .... Next issue: Reconcile Error that reads: "The total of the previously reconciled (or cleared) items in your register no longer matches with the ending balance of your prior statements."
QUICKEN's Answer: Changing a reconciled transaction amount in Quicken activates the Re-reconcile (or Smart Reconcile) feature. When this feature is activated, the message "The total of the previously reconciled (or cleared) items in your register no longer matches with the ending balance of your prior statements" appears every time you change the amount on a reconciled transaction. You can fix it,... My THIRD issue: BE VERY CAREFUL THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN TO YOU:
I had a 401K/403b account that when upgraded from Q2000 to Q2003 the Account's Tax-Deferred status was somehow converted with a Tax-Deferred=no setting...I pull up edit account and the setting is greyed-out - I CANNOT CHANGE IT!... Now I have years of investment data that will have to be re-entered under another account (will take weeks). All in all I found the Q2003 is very user friendly for new users, but will be frustrating for old users who are used to being able to control their quicken settings...
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