Microsoft this week announced that it was exiting a long-time business and will stop selling its Money software at the end of the month. The software giant had recently stopped selling yearly upgrades to the Money Plus product, citing its inability to add much value year over year.
"With banks, brokerage firms, and websites now providing a range of options for managing personal finances, the consumer need for Microsoft Money has changed," a Microsoft statement reads. "After suspending annual updates of Money in 2008, Microsoft is announcing today that we will no longer offer Microsoft Money for purchase after June 30, 2009."
Affected products include Microsoft Money Essentials, Microsoft Money Plus Deluxe, Microsoft Money Plus Premium, and Microsoft Money Plus Home & Business. Some features in these products will continue to work indefinitely, but online services like stock quotes, bill pay, and online banking will stop working over time.
Microsoft says it will support Money Plus product activations through January 31, 2011, and the products will continue working until two years after the initial activation. The company will continue to offer personal finance information and advice via its MSN Money website.
Money is only the latest ancillary software product that Microsoft has discontinued in recent years, joining Encarta and the Digital Image Suite in the dustbin. But Money was also at the center of Microsoft's first taste of antitrust action; the company tried to buy Quicken maker Intuit for $1.5 billion in 1994, but the US Department of Justice blocked the deal