Op zondag 07-03-2010 om 14:27 uur [tijdzone -0500], schreef Martin Owens: > On Sun, 2010-03-07 at 18:22 +0100, Jan Claeys wrote: > > The problem with most open source accounting apps is that they don't > > support local (country-specific) requirements, or they need extensive > > tweaking that requires help from local accountants and a bunch of > > programmers to get and keep it right (laws change every day, but there > > is also the integration with banks, etc.). > > It's very true, you have know what your making. > > > IOW: every serious accounting application will need a dedicated company > > behind it... (or multiple companies if you want to go international). > > Lets be clear, I don't intend on making the accounting program to > replace all accounting programs. I will be making something which solves > the problems of one man in Vermont, United States and anything above and > beyond that in complexity and addition will have to come from other > people solving things for their own needs or paying me to solve them.
In that case, there are probably already several solutions on linux, except that you might have to customize them for your needs (Alan pointed to OpenERP which I'm sure can do a lot more than you want, but the fact that several companies survive on supporting & extending it might make it obvious that it's not a turnkey solution for everybody). > A company isn't the answer unless your company is doing a) investment > development (bleh) or b) is a "a bunch of programmers to get and keep it > right" > > I believe you probably indicate a. and I would vehemently disagree with > you. There is power in people's own drive to solve their own problems, > it just has to be focused on the productive elements. The reason why I mention a company is that if an accounting program wants to be useful for more than a couple of other people it will need *a lot* of maintenance, and some changes will have rather short deadlines (the tax office won't buy it if you tell them you can't declare/pay taxes "because the volunteers that maintain the program you use are too busy to work on it right now"). Oh, and one more thing to think about: some countries have laws that list requirements for accounting software. The way Tiny & the other companies supporting OpenERP (formerly TinyERP) do that is by releasing some parts as open source, but they also develop custom parts (that often become open source once the investment on them is earned back). So, a program that's useful for just your one person might be possible (especially if it has limited needs), but anything beyond that will get complex soon. -- Jan Claeys -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
