Retailers with Money in the UK

I've been out of the country a bit recently, as well as having had a short holiday in North Wales.

On my return, I was visiting relatives, and happened to go into a PC World store in Reading, Berkshire. Shops like this are not normally a place I visit, as I usually buy everything I want from Amazon, Play.com and other online retailers, but they are useful for me to browse in, especially if I am looking to buy something in the future and want to get a hands-on look.

I digress though.... what interested me was their software section. After parting myself from 97p for some scooby doo software (and a book) for my son (no idea why this software was so cheap..), and drooling over the 50" plasma screens, I walked around to see if Microsoft Money was on the shelf.

I found a couple of long shelves with 'Financial Software' above them - they were completely empty of all software (just one or two MYOB boxes (the business accounting software) at £199 hiding away at the bottom where it was difficult to see them).

If one of the larger retailers no longer appears to stock the software (didn't have time to find an assistant to check), then that doesn't really bode that well for Microsoft Money in the UK. It's still selling it on Amazon, but even there it appears to be only third party sellers.

Of course, the software is still useable, and even when the quotes are due to expire in December 2009 (the Microsoft link is no longer available), the software can still be used.

It's a pity that Intuit announced the termination of Quicken in the UK, but Microsoft have yet to confirm the suspicions that many people have.

I see a gap in the market which should be exploited by one of the minor players, such as Personal Accountz - if the two big players are gone, people struggling with debt and general tightening of people's finances, what a better time to try and get a product into retail channels.

My day job involves .NET development, but I don't have the time to write a program myself. Many years ago my father wrote one in FoxPro - but neither of us have the program or the code any more, which is a shame as I'd open-source it. I really wish I had the time to write a PFM which addressed the needs as I see them in the marketplace... I am seeking new employment at present, so I'll gladly talk to companies that write such software