Does a lot…doesn’t do some important basic stuff

I started using Investoscope 2 more than a year ago and upgraded to Investoscope 3.

While the software does a lot, there are some basic things that it doesn’t do, and some things it doesn’t do well:

- It doesn’t do online account linkage and download from financial institutions
- It doesn’t support importing data from more than a couple of formats

I happen to use a brokerage that believes data should be shared using the secure OFX format from within applications rather than from downloaded files; so there is no way I can use the OFX import. And the same institution has decided that .csv and tab-delimited text files are obsolete and only makes their data available as downloaded Excel .xlsx files, which the software also doesn’t support.

In order to import data updates to the program, I have to download .xlsx formatted files, then scrub them within Excel, and finally output them in .csv or tab-delimited file format. A lot of manual labor that shouldn’t be necessary.

I’m sure the brokerage that I use isn’t the only one that would cause a problem importing data.

I have also written the developer with many issues and suggestions over time, and he does not seem open to hearing anyone’s views on how his product could be improved. Every suggestion I’ve made has gotten a defensive response that basically conveys the message, “I’m right; you’re wrong; and that’s the end of the discussion.”

The product fall short of being a high-quality commercial product given its price.

MyTwoCents about Investoscope 3