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I have used TurboTax for probably close to 15 years now and will continue to do so despite Mr. Mossberg's misgivings. No tax prep software is simple. There are tricks and techniques to using this stuff, and none of the things he points out, valid though they may be, is, to me, worth the emotional cost of starting over to learn a new system. Also, my returns, though they may be more complicated than those of many taxpayers, tend to be very similar year to year. The loss of the ability to download data from last year's return (which I assume would happen if I changed systems) would be another big minus for me. I have already installed TurboTax for 2002, federal plus three states. The installation was very simple and didn't take more than a few minutes.

I do agree with his comments about the "enhanced" versions of TurboTax. I think the basic version is just fine.

I've used Turbotax for 10 years but, after reading up on Intuits new antipiracy measures, skipped on it this year and decided to try TaxCut (I'm a computer programmer, and I firmly believe that software should make your life EASIER...Intuit seems to have forgotten that).

Like you, I was a bit worried about having to re-learn everything. That worry, it turned out, was misplaced. The interfaces are nearly identical. They could have easily been designed by the same team, or the same person, they are so alike. There was NO learning curve to TaxCut. Although help and instructions were always one click away, I found that I never needed them.

Also, like you, my tax returns tend to be fairly complex and I wasn't looking forward to starting over. That also turned out to be a misplaced worry. TaxCut imported my TurboTax 2001 data without any difficulty, and prepopulated most of the return.

So TaxCut is cheaper, it's identical in both interface and features, it doesn't assume you're a criminal, and I can legally lend it to family members and help them with their taxes. Sounds like TaxCut is the better product to me, and they've got a new loyal customer here.