Turbo Tax DRM "The latest version of TurboTax is laden with DRM software [...] as reported at Extreme Tech." [Slashdot.org]

I didn't want to quote the entire Slashdot post, as it contains technical inaccuracies.  The gist is that TurboTax has copy-protection that recklessly writes to your hard drive's boot track, breaking multi-boot systems -- all without asking the user.

There's no excuse for a tax preparation program to write to the boot track.  Not for any reason.  Even a program that does need to write to the boot track -- like a boot loader -- shouldn't write to the disk without first warning the user of the risks and specifically asking for permission.

I've used TurboTax in the past, but will not be buying it this year.  I think I'll evaluate TaxCut instead.  I hear it can import TurboTax records.  When my friends ask, I'll definitely recommend they find an alternative as well.

6:45:44 PM