When Will OSS Financial Apps Catch Up?

RomulusNR asks: "One sticking issue preventing small groups such as small business and nonprofits from wholly migrating to Linux, or even open-source application software, is the sub-adequate feature scope of accounting applications. QuickBooks is the standard, easier for non-technical people to learn, and is free or extremely cheap for nonprofits, and comes built-in with nearly every tax form and chartered accounting reports imaginable. Open source software seems like a natural fit for nonprofits, but if they can't fulfill their legal financial obligations with it, it's a non-starter. Add to that the fact that most people are not terribly tech savvy, and some have spent a lot of time learning the few aspects of QuickBooks that are most relevant to them; retraining on a totally different app is not a practical endeavor. Is there any hope that the field of OSS accounting apps will catch up to the practical needs of those who would theoretically best benefit from them?" The linked article is from Newsforge which, like Slashdot, is owned by OSTG.

Comments

Re:Linux? or OSS?

[alfs boner]

Do you want accounting software for Linux?

I don't use Linux.

Or do you want open-source accounting software?

I'm probably not going to use that either.

Your question is worded so that it only make sense if we pretend that the only software available for linux is open source.

Linux, open sores -- WHO CARES? Either way, I'm not using it.

Re:Probably never.

[Nutria]

So the Gub'mint should make it available in machine-readable form. This way, all you need to do is feed it into your program and everything works.

But hey, we don't live in a reality where stuff works in a sensible manner...

That has to be the most facile comment I've ever read on Slashdot, and that says a lot.