QuickBooks 2013: Will it Only Work with Windows 7?

Just peering into the crystal ball for a moment...

What if Intuit decides that QuickBooks 2013 will no longer work with Windows XP and only work with Windows 7?

UPDATE: QuickBooks 2013 is here!

• Details and discounts on QuickBooks Pro 2013, QuickBooks Premier 2013, QuickBooks for Mac 2013


• QuickBooks Enterprise 2013 - details and discounts

THE END OF AN ERA?

As we know, old technology has to be phased out at some point in time. Windows XP is well over 10 years old now.

Just like Windows 98, Windows Me (ugh!), Windows NT and Windows 2000 before it, QuickBooks working with Windows XP may be next to hit the scrap heap.

THE IMPACT ON YOUR BUSINESS...

Is your business still running Windows XP systems or have you migrated everything to Windows 7?

Should Intuit draw the line in the sand with the 2013 version and not make it compatible with Windows XP?

I welcome your thoughts in the comment box below.

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Comments

[Scott Gregory, QuickBooks Expert]

Hi Nancy:

Thanks for dropping by and posting your insights on this issue - appreciate it!

Indeed, there is no easy answer to this one as there are pros and cons to each perspective.

I would think that you'd "draw a line in the sand" with the support of your products at some point in time (i.e. nothing older than XP) just to keep your sanity :-)

It will be very interesting to see if/when Intuit pulls the plug on support of XP. They already have the tight 3 year window relating to the support of QuickBooks, and we know how much kicking and screaming there is every May when that train passes through town...

Scott Gregory

[Nancy Smyth]

Scott
Compelling question and one that all software developers must think about (myself included).

In the July issue of PC World there was an article that indicated that Microsoft would continue to support XP until April 8, 2014; after that they would no longer provide patches or security updates.

While it is sometimes difficult to maintain backwards compatibility while at the same time provide compatibility with new versions of Windows (for example Windows 8), as a software developer we "should" provide support for older systems and not make our clients/customers upgrade if what they have works. My own company consists of my husband and I, we have over 5,000 businesses using our software on a weekly or monthly basis, our programs still support older versions of Windows; heck a couple of weeks ago I did a remote with someone using Windows 2000 and Office 97 (that freaked me right out!).

Look at us as ProAdvisors, many of us still support clients/customers using older versions of QuickBooks - which means that we must also keep the machines that will run them efficiently.

Just my $.02