For me the items that keep me from going Pure Linux on my primary communication PC are:
QuickBooks Quicken pcAnywhere Advanced Phone Recorder (yes, I record phone calls using my PC now, more below) VFP Outlook Blackberry data exchange with Blackberry PROCEDURE RantRegardingPhoneRecordings Over the past few years I have seen a significant increase in NY state's various tax agencies (Unemployment, State Disability, Income Tax, Sales Tax, Corporate and LLC filing, etc.) trying to narrow an $80 billion shortfall in revenue and expenses by extorting fees in the form of fines, late fees, interest, additional fees, etc., through an apparent campaign of using/providing incorrect information, handing out intentionally incorrect information, allegations of receiving filings late, and even interpreting my statements in a misleading manner. My mailing costs have gone up 10 fold since I now use FedEx or USPS 2nd Day delivery just to get a tracking number for filings, yet despite evidence of timely delivery I still get letters and calls re: late filing fines, interest and other penalties. But now I have the proof of delivery needed to get out of these blatant efforts to drive revenue up at the expense of business owners. I also received some (again) bad info from the NYS Unemployment Tax agency, which literally threatened me with an immediate tax warrant going out that day if I did not FAX in some forms they claim they never received (before I started to use trackable delivery). As I went over the form values I sent per my copies the gal said I did everything wrong and handed me over to their compliance office to help me correct the info, to the tune of an additional $640 in costs to myself for 1099 expenses they said I had to pay Unemployment Taxes on (for an outside contractor). I was told that if I did not include the 1099 amounts for the outside contracter they would file a tax warrant and I would be subjected to fines and prosecution for falsifying a state document. I sent in what they wanted. Later my CPA chastised me for caving under that pressure (he said he is getting calls like mine all the time now), then clarified. If an outside contractor sends an invoice (mine did) for services they are responsible for their own UE taxes. If I pay them with no invoice then I am responsbile for the taxes as NY views them as being "casual employees". I had told the folks I paid off an invoice, but they "skirted the issue" and pressured me unduly into paying what I did not owe, and they will also get UE taxes from the contract worker. But I had no proof of the conversation. When I did call back to protest the filing based on the overtly misleading info I was told I could refile, but it would trigger an automatic and immediate audit as a matter of department policy, and that would have cost me more than the $640 I overpaid based on their fallicous information. I got stung, and my CPA tells me it is happening all the time now with every NY State tax agency across the board. I was made as hell, and decided to get a Voice Modem and some phone recording software that was PC based. I settled on Advanced Phone Recorder for the software, and a Zoom external USB Voice Modem for the hardware. I have a list of all states where I can record with single party notification (me being the one party aware of the recording <g>). For states with all-party motification requirements if the auto-attendant or person I speak with says the call "may be recorded for quality assurance", I take that as permissive "may be" recorded, as opposed to notifying me it "might be", recorded - then continue to record the rest of the conversation. I already put that to use with a NY State Disability Insurance issue, where upon a followup call a supervisor I was dealing with told me, "Nobody here would have ever said that.", when I told her I was being essentially shaken down with incorrect information where I was told I owed a huge penalty, back payments and threatened with legal action by NY State. I asked for her eMail and sent her the .wav file from the previous conversation I had with one of there clerks. Her manager called me back within 15 minutes, after listening to the .wav file, and told me what I did was illegal (recording the conversations) and she was going to have me charged with wiretapping (ignorant bitch, wiretapping is different altogether). I told her to check with her NY State legal counsel before she did anything rash, and she would see NY is a single party notification state, and since we were both in NY I was well within my rights to record any and all conversations with her department for any purpose. I also told her in her case it was to protect myself from further badgering and state sponsored extortion. She demanded I stop recording our conversation, I refused and said I would be glad to submit her demand for me to let down my right to protect my interests in preventing intentionally incorrect information issued from her personnel from injuring me financially with blatantly false claims of money I allegedly owed (officers of an S-Corp with over 33% ownership do not have to pay SDI in NY, they were claiming otherwise) to the head of her division and to my legal counsel for futher distribution as he saw fit. She backed off, and they stopped harrassing me after that. If I did not have the previous recording I eMailed for them to listen to I would have been extorted for more unduly assessed fines & fees. I hate dealing with those bastards! I record any insurance, financial, tax agency related and calls involving any legal matter now. I trust nobody who has a potential interest in getting into my back pocket. Anyway, enough of my rant. Check out http://www.pimall.com/nais/n.recordlaw.html for who you can record state-by-state, and read carefully about inter-state calls. The app I use is from http://www.concelsys.com/. It works well, and was under $100. The modem was also under $100. ENDPROC &&PROCEDURE RantRegardingPhoneRecordings Gil > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Jeff Johnson > Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 5:25 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [NF] Is it really this quiet, or is the eMail service > havingproblems? > > > Funny you mentioned this. I have been trying to figure out how to > completely make the move and was reading an article about Quickbooks. > There are several applications that are preventing a 100% move for me: > > Quickbooks: http://www.linux.com/feature/41026 > Delorme TOPO USA 7.0 > Citrix access to corporate networks using Internet Explorer > Visual FoxPro > > I have found an alternative to most everything else. Not bad, huh? > > Jeff > > Jeff Johnson > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > SanDC, Inc. > 623-582-0323 > Fax 623-869-0675 > > Phoenix Python User Group - [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Paul McNett wrote: > > Gil Hale wrote: > >> Did y'all catch the article in this (next) month's PC World, where one > >> writer says it may be a good time for folks (small businesses) > to move to > >> Linux? Very well done. Unfortunately it would not work with auto > >> dealership operations. > > > > What is special about auto dealers that Linux wouldn't work for them? > > What ties them to Windows? Why not break that tie? > > > > Paul > > > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.