Worst Help Doco I've Ever Seen!

After moving from Quicken after 16 years (which has p i s s poor Help) I
expected a steep learning curve. The move wasn't as bad as I had imagined,
but I was gobsmacked with the lack of basic Help documentation, both in app
and online.

How can a major SW mfr get away with leaving functionality mention out of
the Help doco? Just one example, and albeit a minor one: I came to this
board in search of information on Frequent Flyer tracking. It's in the app,
but ZERO doco online or in the Help file.

Perhaps one has to use Hindi to get at the "inside secrets" of Money?!?

How can the Product Mgmt team in Redmond get away with this? Why do I have
to search through support boards for simple answers?

Ah yes, perhaps the MSFT bashers do have a grain of truth in their
rants..... MSFT is a customer, vendor and partner to my employer. The MSFT
staff I've worked with just shaked their heads and refused to comment when I
raised this question to them back in January. Sad, very sad!
--
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI
AMD64 Athlon 3800+ x2
GSkill 4 x 1GB DDR
SATA:WD 74GB 10,000RPM;2x WD 80GB 7,200RPM
eVGA GeForce 7800 GT 256MB
Enermax 600W ATX Power Supply
ThermalTake VA8000 Case

Michael
Thu Aug 03 18:37:04 CDT 2006

You need to make disparaging comments about Hindi not just once but twice?

--
Michael Gordon
MVP


"Guilden_NL" <GuildenNL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4DAB541E-C54F-48AD-9F44-A95459B2C42D@microsoft.com...
> After moving from Quicken after 16 years (which has p i s s poor Help) I
> expected a steep learning curve. The move wasn't as bad as I had
> imagined,
> but I was gobsmacked with the lack of basic Help documentation, both in
> app
> and online.
>
> How can a major SW mfr get away with leaving functionality mention out of
> the Help doco? Just one example, and albeit a minor one: I came to this
> board in search of information on Frequent Flyer tracking. It's in the
> app,
> but ZERO doco online or in the Help file.
>
> Perhaps one has to use Hindi to get at the "inside secrets" of Money?!?
>
> How can the Product Mgmt team in Redmond get away with this? Why do I
> have
> to search through support boards for simple answers?
>
> Ah yes, perhaps the MSFT bashers do have a grain of truth in their
> rants..... MSFT is a customer, vendor and partner to my employer. The
> MSFT
> staff I've worked with just shaked their heads and refused to comment when
> I
> raised this question to them back in January. Sad, very sad!
> --
> MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI
> AMD64 Athlon 3800+ x2
> GSkill 4 x 1GB DDR
> SATA:WD 74GB 10,000RPM;2x WD 80GB 7,200RPM
> eVGA GeForce 7800 GT 256MB
> Enermax 600W ATX Power Supply
> ThermalTake VA8000 Case

GuildenNL
Thu Aug 03 19:43:01 CDT 2006

I'll make disparaging remarks about Mandarin or Russian if MSFT keeps moving
their product development offshore and supplying little to no Help with their
apps!

BTW, I've worked in 108 countries - I have no issue with Indians, Singh, or
any Chinese ethnic group. I DO have a problem with MSFT charging the same or
more every year when the documentation is this bad. Now does that raise your
PC hackles?

Can you provide any insight as to what you've heard for feedback on the Help
doco (and any doco for that matter) from MSFT? As I say, I work with US
based development resources in BLDG 25 in Redmond and also in our company's
development centre. The MSFT employees are extremely embarrassed about it.
So I would LOVE to get your insight if it is different.

Or as you will soon be hearing from some of the newer MSFT documentation
team: æ?¾å¼?æ?±æ?¨å??帮å?©!
--
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI
AMD64 Athlon 3800+ x2
GSkill 4 x 1GB DDR
SATA:WD 74GB 10,000RPM;2x WD 80GB 7,200RPM
eVGA GeForce 7800 GT 256MB
Enermax 600W ATX Power Supply
ThermalTake VA8000 Case


"Michael Gordon, MVP" wrote:

> You need to make disparaging comments about Hindi not just once but twice?
>
> --
> Michael Gordon
> MVP
>
>
> "Guilden_NL" <GuildenNL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:4DAB541E-C54F-48AD-9F44-A95459B2C42D@microsoft.com...
> > After moving from Quicken after 16 years (which has p i s s poor Help) I
> > expected a steep learning curve. The move wasn't as bad as I had
> > imagined,
> > but I was gobsmacked with the lack of basic Help documentation, both in
> > app
> > and online.
> >
> > How can a major SW mfr get away with leaving functionality mention out of
> > the Help doco? Just one example, and albeit a minor one: I came to this
> > board in search of information on Frequent Flyer tracking. It's in the
> > app,
> > but ZERO doco online or in the Help file.
> >
> > Perhaps one has to use Hindi to get at the "inside secrets" of Money?!?
> >
> > How can the Product Mgmt team in Redmond get away with this? Why do I
> > have
> > to search through support boards for simple answers?
> >
> > Ah yes, perhaps the MSFT bashers do have a grain of truth in their
> > rants..... MSFT is a customer, vendor and partner to my employer. The
> > MSFT
> > staff I've worked with just shaked their heads and refused to comment when
> > I
> > raised this question to them back in January. Sad, very sad!

Michael
Fri Aug 04 15:19:22 CDT 2006

My personal "insight" -- if you're really asking for it -- is that the Help
in Money (both in the Doc and Online) isn't very good, but no worse than
what I see in products from other vendors (e.g., Symantec, Adobe).

If you're asking for help with Frequent Flyer programs, we'll try to help.

If you just want to vent, vent away.

--
Michael Gordon
MVP


"Guilden_NL" <GuildenNL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2AFB2851-74D0-4239-841D-9A717ED76560@microsoft.com...
> I'll make disparaging remarks about Mandarin or Russian if MSFT keeps
> moving
> their product development offshore and supplying little to no Help with
> their
> apps!
>
> BTW, I've worked in 108 countries - I have no issue with Indians, Singh,
> or
> any Chinese ethnic group. I DO have a problem with MSFT charging the same
> or
> more every year when the documentation is this bad. Now does that raise
> your
> PC hackles?
>
> Can you provide any insight as to what you've heard for feedback on the
> Help
> doco (and any doco for that matter) from MSFT? As I say, I work with US
> based development resources in BLDG 25 in Redmond and also in our
> company's
> development centre. The MSFT employees are extremely embarrassed about
> it.
> So I would LOVE to get your insight if it is different.
>
> Or as you will soon be hearing from some of the newer MSFT documentation
> team: ???????!
> --
> MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI
> AMD64 Athlon 3800+ x2
> GSkill 4 x 1GB DDR
> SATA:WD 74GB 10,000RPM;2x WD 80GB 7,200RPM
> eVGA GeForce 7800 GT 256MB
> Enermax 600W ATX Power Supply
> ThermalTake VA8000 Case
>
>
> "Michael Gordon, MVP" wrote:
>
>> You need to make disparaging comments about Hindi not just once but
>> twice?
>>
>> --
>> Michael Gordon
>> MVP
>>
>>
>> "Guilden_NL" <GuildenNL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:4DAB541E-C54F-48AD-9F44-A95459B2C42D@microsoft.com...
>> > After moving from Quicken after 16 years (which has p i s s poor Help)
>> > I
>> > expected a steep learning curve. The move wasn't as bad as I had
>> > imagined,
>> > but I was gobsmacked with the lack of basic Help documentation, both in
>> > app
>> > and online.
>> >
>> > How can a major SW mfr get away with leaving functionality mention out
>> > of
>> > the Help doco? Just one example, and albeit a minor one: I came to
>> > this
>> > board in search of information on Frequent Flyer tracking. It's in the
>> > app,
>> > but ZERO doco online or in the Help file.
>> >
>> > Perhaps one has to use Hindi to get at the "inside secrets" of Money?!?
>> >
>> > How can the Product Mgmt team in Redmond get away with this? Why do I
>> > have
>> > to search through support boards for simple answers?
>> >
>> > Ah yes, perhaps the MSFT bashers do have a grain of truth in their
>> > rants..... MSFT is a customer, vendor and partner to my employer. The
>> > MSFT
>> > staff I've worked with just shaked their heads and refused to comment
>> > when
>> > I
>> > raised this question to them back in January. Sad, very sad!
>

Dan
Sat Aug 05 20:22:05 CDT 2006

Michael Gordon, MVP wrote:
> My personal "insight" -- if you're really asking for it -- is that the Help
> in Money (both in the Doc and Online) isn't very good, but no worse than
> what I see in products from other vendors (e.g., Symantec, Adobe).

I must disagree. The help available in Microsoft Money is the worst I
can recall seeing in a professional software product, and particularly
for one with as many options and complexities as this product needs to,
and does, have.

Before switching from Quicken to Money, I often found Quicken's
documentation frustrating, but at least was eventually able to resolve
questions about how different types of investment accounts should be
set up and used, the absurd limits of Quicken's import/export
capabilities, etc.

Money has an introduction to the steps of using some commonly used
features, but no real attempt to document the product. The contrast
with other Microsoft software documentation is dramatic.

NickB
Wed Aug 16 21:03:01 CDT 2006

An example: For at least since Money 2006, the Tax Estimator has had 5
options for filing status (Single, Married Sep., Married Joint, Head of
Household, Custom). The help for filing status has 5 also, but instead of
'custom' it discusses 'Widow(er)'. There's also no mention at all about where
to actually use the "custom' category. I used to love money, but with 2007
and the lack of improvement, and even noticable degradation, I'm left
wondering where else I can turn if it continues on this downward spiral.

"Dan Konigsbach" wrote:

> Michael Gordon, MVP wrote:
> > My personal "insight" -- if you're really asking for it -- is that the Help
> > in Money (both in the Doc and Online) isn't very good, but no worse than
> > what I see in products from other vendors (e.g., Symantec, Adobe).
>
> I must disagree. The help available in Microsoft Money is the worst I
> can recall seeing in a professional software product, and particularly
> for one with as many options and complexities as this product needs to,
> and does, have.
>
> Before switching from Quicken to Money, I often found Quicken's
> documentation frustrating, but at least was eventually able to resolve
> questions about how different types of investment accounts should be
> set up and used, the absurd limits of Quicken's import/export
> capabilities, etc.
>
> Money has an introduction to the steps of using some commonly used
> features, but no real attempt to document the product. The contrast
> with other Microsoft software documentation is dramatic.
>
>

Dick
Thu Aug 17 09:24:32 CDT 2006

Yup. Let us know what your wondering reveals.

"Nick B" <NickB@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C6272259-86A4-44EF-8DC8-9E5285BDD4D0@microsoft.com...
> I used to love money, but with 2007
> and the lack of improvement, and even noticable degradation, I'm left
> wondering where else I can turn if it continues on this downward spiral.