This Works Great - Let's Stop Using It

A de facto standard is where you create something that meets with wide ranging acceptance. For many companies it's a coveted if unstated objective. For example, Adobe PDF has become a standard for viewing documents - make something available in a PDF form and most anybody can access it.

The folks at Intuit, makers of the checkbook software Quicken, had that going for them with their QIF format. Basically it was a way to export and import information into your electronic checkbook. It was pretty simple and worked very well - so well in fact that many financial institutions began to offer their customers the ability to download their account data in this format. So well that Microsoft made it available in their own checkbook program. It was a de facto standard for importing or exporting checkbook transactions.

So imagine my surprise when I bit the bullet and did a Quicken upgrade a few months ago only to discover that QIF was no longer supported by the folks at Intuit. They have elected to support only the OFX (Open Financial Exchange) standard. While a more broad and useful method for exchanging financial it is also more complex - and as a result most financial institutions are not about to expend money to implement this new standard. Perhaps even more amazing is that Microsoft Money continues to support QIF as well as OFX, even in their "bare bones" product (which I'm running a trial version of now - and like so far as I really do not need a ton of bells and whistles).

Anyone want to buy a used copy of Quicken?

Why Can't Our Presidential Elections Have These Sort of Contestants?

Monday my alma mater, Johns Hopkins, met Duke University for the NCAA Division I lacrosse championship. Now while a lot of folks get damn near rabid when their college is in a championship game I'll confess that I'm not quite that excitable. Yet when I stumbled across the game on cable I had to stop to witness the drama.

Hopkins was in the lead by 1 point with under 5 minutes to go. A penalty put them a man down, then another penalty put them down yet another, and the Blue Devils took advantage scoring a goal to tie things up. Fate seemed on Duke's side but to their credit Hopkins went right back up the field and reclaimed a one point advantage. Some heart-stopping shots by Duke that careened off the goal followed, and it was not until Duke's last second shot went wide that Hopkins could say they'd claimed a second title in three years.

I had to feel good about JHU coming through - not just because I attended the place but because this team was pretty well written off by everyone a few weeks back after losing a few games. They showed great perseverance and were definitely a classic case of the underdog coming out on top. But had one of those Duke shots been a centimeter closer to the goal and the outcome different, I'd have been truly happy to see Duke wear the crown. They have had their own story of overcoming adversity played out on the national stage over the last year, and it would have been seemingly devine providence had they gone all the way.

So congrats to the Hopkins guys and three cheers for the Duke players - two great teams that gave us a fantastic championship game.