GnuCash 2.0.0 Released

tashanna writes "After a very welcome GTK2 conversion and some additional feature hacking, GnuCash has released version 2.0.0. Other notable changes include: 'OFX DirectConnect which can directly retrieve and import account statements over the Internet, a "Hide account" feature to keep a better overview of your current accounts tabbed window functionality, the ability to create budgets within GnuCash using your account data, support for Accounting Periods, the data file format has been improved with respect to international characters data files with international characters can be transferred to other countries flawlessly, GnuCash Help and Guide are now fully integrated with the GNOME Help system (Yelp).'"

Comments

Great for...

[andrewman327]

This is a great program for calculating all of the money you saved by not using Windows!

Oh, and has TFA been /.ed already?

Re:Great for...

[baadger]

...unless of course you plan to use it on Windows.

Most of, and all of the best, 'Linux software' is available on Win32. Ports are made much more likely by open sourced code. So I think you made a bad assumption there :P

Re:Great for...

[stefanlasiewski]

So I think you made a bad assumption there :P

GnuCash is NOT available for Windows yet. It may be available in the future, or it may be possible to compile your own.

According to the wiki: "FAQ: Is it possible to compile GnuCash on Windows? A: Currently, no".

Re:Great for...

[nharmon]

For many of us, the cost of using Quicken also involves switching to financial institutions who pay Intuit's .QFX ransom. You do know what .QFX is, right? It is .OFX (an XML-based transactions format) with a couple of Quicken-specific tags that tells quicken that the bank is paid up. It used to be not a big deal since you could use .QIF files to import transactions. But starting in 2005, that is no longer an option.

Try and call up Quicken and ask them why...both as a financial institution and as a customer. You will get all sorts of laughable excuses like ".QFX makes the files you get from your bank more secure", or "we don't use OFX because it isn't secure". As if their additions to the file makes it secure (it doesn't, not even from a integrity standpoint because every customer gets the same, or similiar tags).

Re:Great for...

[ichimunki]

Not only is it possible to use GnuCash on Windows using Cygwin's X Server. That's how I've been doing it for some time now with very good results. The only problem I've ever had is with default window sizes for non-maximized windows--probably from having a much larger screen resolution on the Windows system than the Linux system that gets X forwarded.

As far as I'm concerned GnuCash is one of the big reasons I've managed to avoid bankruptcy in the past. It's standard approach to accounting and reports was very helpful for me when I got into financial trouble in the past. Seeing this announcement for 2.0 is heartening, and a good reminder that it's time to donate to the developers' beer fund (or whatever they spend donations on).

Any sarge backports available?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd like to try this out. GnuCash seems like a good foundation for keeping track of finances, but past versions haven't been user friendly enough for non-accountants like myself.

Port for MS Windows is possible with GTK2

[stefanlasiewski]

With the adaptation to GTK2 , GNUcash may someday be available for Microsoft Windows according to the GNUcash wiki at http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Windows/

With GTK1, a port of GNUcash for Windows was only a dream.

GnuCash is pretty popular in the Linux world. It would be great to see this OSS project available to Windows users as well.

GNUcash

[joe 155]

I wasn't too sure what GNUCash was from the summery and the article seems to have gone down, if you're wondering:

GnuCash is an application to keep track of your finances. GnuCash is a personal finance manager. A check-book like register GUI allows you to enter and track bank accounts, stocks, income and even currency trades. The interface is designed to be simple and easy to use, but is backed with double-entry accounting principles to ensure balanced books.

That's from yum, although 2.0.0 isn't in the fedora repositories yet (well, not; livna, core, extras or updates)

Re:GNUcash

[gnuman99]

Double-entry accounting is the only way to fly in the money world. It is the only way to make sure you balance you transactions. For example, instead of having

Dentist         Expenses:Health     $200.00

You have,

Dentist         Expenses:Health     $200.00
                Liabilities:Visa              $200.00

Or even better,

Dentist         Expenses:Health     $200.00
                Expenses:Taxes       $15.00
                Liabilities:Visa              $180.00
                Assets:Cash                    $35.00

Then when your Visa comes in, you reconcile your transactions. This is much, much better than a checkbook register or other back of the napkin accounting methods. The point is that ALL transactions are balanced. Money in = Money out.

Re:GNUcash

[ceswiedler]

You don't have to enter anything twice. Everything is a single transaction which refers to two accounts. So as soon as you enter something saying "$200 from Checking into Expenses" there is automatically a "$200 into Expenses from Checking". It's just two ways of looking at the same transaction.

Re:GNUcash

[benoitg]

Not many, that's what QIF, OFX and OFC downloads, as well as OFX Direct Connect and HBCI are for. Gnucash will simply ask you what each of your transaction was spent on, as it already knows what account it's from. It will even do bayesian filtering the next time you import to try and guess it for you.

Gnome Office?

[baadger]

Gnumeric (spreadsheets), Abiword (word processing) and GnuCash (financing) are all excellent programs that the Gnome project collectively call Gnome Office. Anyone know if this is co-operative in any manner? ..good 'competition' to Open Office, even if they are not in the same class. It'd be great if these apps had a certain level of integration, although I can't think in what way off the top of my head.

kmymoney

[Wh_TiGER]

I've been evaluating OSS solution and I found this one pretty interesting. Polished and yet, powerful.

http://kmymoney2.sourceforge.net/

I'll certainly give a try to Gnucash 2.0 anyway.

Re:kmymoney

[jeddak]

For a really excellent, lightweight, and easy-to-use alternative to Quicken, GnuCash, MoneyDance, et al, I can heartily recommend Ledger. It kicks!!

It's a command-line program that implements double-entry accounting, without the clunky GUI/WIMPy frills.

And you thought physicists were boring

[Anonymous Coward]

Accountantzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..............

Re:And you thought physicists were boring

[eno2001]

Hear hear!! My method of accounting is simple:

1. Only one bank account (with a debit card) into which everything I make is direct deposited
2. No credit cards (they are EVIL)
3. Mentally remember how much you generally have in the account ($9786, OK, so I've got about $10,000 in the bank)
4. Confirm what you mentally think you have with your bank's automated phone system so that you have a fresh guess as to how much you've got
5. Never spend more than %50 of what you think you have in the account unless you have a REALLY GOOD reason
6. DO NOT bank online. Evar
7. Memorize the general amounts of your monthly charges, which should all be automatic withdrawals. ($54.99 for cable? OK so assume $60 a month)

In general it's all based on assumptions with a mental attitude that you have less than you actually do. So far it's worked wonders for my money situation in that I really don't have to think about it unless it matters at the moment. Because if there's one thing people like us HATE to do, it's thinking about money. Money is a nuisance in every way just as non-techs feel computers are a nuisance in every way. For those of you that have a strong interest in money, well... get help.

Re:And you thought physicists were boring

[Bushwuly]

Good luck buying a car, or a house.

Unfortunately today, the costs of purchasing such major items necessitate the usage of credit. My mother at 49 is unable to get a loan to fix her house, because she's paid in cash her entire life and has no credit history. She'll just have to save up until she has enough, right?

While I appreciate the simpleness and ease of what you're promoting, fact is unless you are independently wealthy or have no interest in having a family (how are you paying for the kids' college?), you have to have some form of credit.

People like us? Sounds rather elitist...

(By the way, I gave up a career in IT to work with kids, so I'm pretty sure I don't have a strong interest in money.)

Want a Windows Version

[greenegg77]

We all clamor for Linux versions of Windows software, so where's the Windows version of GnuCash? Just program in some random GPF's and we'll be happy.

the official announcement

[pintpusher]

from gnucash-users list:

    Accounting in Linux Leaps Forward

*/GnuCash 2.0.0 milestone released to public/*

Personal and small business accounting in Linux will be easier and
better after today's release of GnuCash 2.0.0.
This milestone release of the free, open source accounting program
includes generational advances over the last version. GnuCash 2.0.0 is
based on state-of-the-art gtk2 GUI technology. Developers worked hard to
integrate the Gnome Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) for a consistent
behaviour and look-and-feel for the whole Desktop.
Major changes in the milestone release include;
        * OFX DirectConnect which can directly retrieve and import account
            statements over the Internet.
        * A "Hide account" feature to keep a better overview of your current
            accounts tabbed window functionality.
        * The ability to create budgets within GnuCash using your account data.
        * Support for Accounting Periods.
        * The data file format has been improved with respect to
            international characters. Data files with international characters
            can be transferred to other countries flawlessly.
        * GnuCash Help and Guide are now fully integrated with the GNOME
            Help system (Yelp).
The GnuCash development team said these new features and changes will
make GnuCash easier than ever for newcomers.
GnuCash is the leading free, open source accounting program and the leap
to gtk2 will enable users to be able to enjoy cutting edge functionality
with the freedom of not being locked into proprietory file formats.

*Playing With Others*
As with other leading Linux software that is designed to replace
proprietory programs, GnuCash is a functional replacement for expensive
accounting programs. Like OpenOffice.org and The Gimp, GnuCash is also
programmed to communicate and interact with as many existing programs,
institutions and people as possible.
The GnuCash development team has continued to improve file import
filters, which allow users to import work from old programs like
Microsoft Money and Quicken. GnuCash can load QIF and QFX files, which
are used by both of those programs.
Developers have also continued to incorporate support for online banking
into the program. GnuCash 2.0.0 supports OFX DirectConnect which can
directly retrieve and import account statements over the Internet.
The milestone release is available in 29 languages, including English,
French, German, Spanish, Norwegian, so people from around the world will
have no difficulty operating the program

*Off on the Right Foot*
Users of the GnuCash 2.0.0 will notice a few changes when they start the
program. Improvements have been made on startup speed, scheduled
transactions, currency support and currency quote retrievals.
After they enter the program, users will find a double-ledger account
system, exhaustive report options and account hierarchy tools. Also at
their disposal is a full system of tutorials and documentation.

*Getting GnuCash*
GnuCash 2.0.0 can be downloaded from gnucash.org. It is available as
source code.
To install GnuCash, users will need Gnome 2, guile, slib and g-wrap.

*http://www.gnucash.org *

*http://download.sourceforge.net/gnucash
*

*About the Program*
GnuCash is a free, open source accounting program released under the GNU
General Public License (GPL) and available for GNU/Linux, *BSD, Solaris
and Mac OSX. It is collaboratively developed by 10 people from over 5
countries.

Programming on GnuCash began in 1997, and its first stable release was
in 1998.

Re:Where's KCash?

[nonmaskable]

http://kmymoney2.sourceforge.net/index-home.html

What about us Brits?

[KingDaveRa]

My major qualm with accounting apps has been the American slant they have. It's often trivial stuff, like the terminology, but some things are slightly different 'over here', and having played with a few other free and Open Source apps, I often found myself a little bit lost and confused. I've used Quicken for some time, and it does what I want, and doesn't confuse me, but it's been localised more I think. I can't pin down the exact things I wasn't happy with, but I know in the past I felt too much of a US-bias.

Moneydance

[Anonymous Coward]

I've tried gnucash a few times and alwasy found it lacking and was forced to use Quicken in Crossover Office. Finally sometime earlier this year I read a post that mentioned Moneydance (http://www.moneydance.com) and gave the trial version a try. Its not quite as feature rich as Quicken but has all the features I needed and I ended up buying a lic for it. I have used it now for about four months I think and have been very happy with it. It runs on Windows, Linux, and MacOS X. I'm not trolling or really even promoting but I just figued with the lack of good accounting apps out there for linux (at least on the personal finances side) I would mention it. I do hope that gnucash has improved with this realease but for now I'll probably stick with Moneydance.

Oh, and yes it is java but the install was quick and painless and it runs quick (for me at least).

No online banking? Why not?

[pestie]

6. DO NOT bank online. Evar

Uh... why not? I've been banking online for years and never once had a single incidence of fraud. Of course, I switched to running Linux full-time a year or so ago, but even when I was running WinXP I had no problems. Of course, I also somehow avoided getting spyware or viruses, too (probably due to the fact that I was a devotee of Mozilla/Firefox). It's surprising to me to hear this kind of attitude on Slashdot, since most people here are clueful enough about security to know how to avoid getting burned.

Re:what about a QuickBooks replacement?

[pintpusher]

just my limited experience here...

depending on what you're doing, gnucash IS a good replacement for quickbooks. It handles a/p. a/r and a reasonable slew of business reports. It does NOT do payroll, which may be a killer for a lot of people, but in my experience, quickbooks payroll wasn't all that. Once you've built a decent spreadsheet for doing payroll, you can format it into a .qif type format and import into gnucash just fine. then you have control over your payroll... my biggest reasons for switching from quickbooks: 1. tired of forced upgrades when the software already did more than I wanted and 2. (the real killer) if you don't use their subscription payroll system, then the payroll calculations will be WRONG. I had some local payroll taxes implemented in my quickbooks. When I got tired of paying them for tax tables that I could get for free from the govt, I let that subscription lapse and guess what happened... the payroll deductions calculated by those taxes I had setup were suddenly wrong. Hours of research later, i determined that without the subscription, it dropped a couple points of precision on the other, custom numbers it was computing. WTF! so screw intuit. IMHO.

Re:what about a QuickBooks replacement?

[pintpusher]

1.) Import my existing Quickbooks data from the last 2-3 years.

hopeless. That's the only reason I maintain my stupid winxp dualboot setup -- for access to 4 years of business transactions that are forever locked up in quickbooks. bleh.

Porting

[cookiepus]

I don't know if anyone from the GnuCash dev comunity reads this, but for what it's worth here's my big problem to trying it or any OpenSource finance package.

Even if these things start to be able to hold a candle to MS Money, there are lots of people (like me) who have years and years worth of data in Microsoft or Quicken. Unless we can port the data, we probably won't really give these things a proper try.

I would imagine that this is HARD to do. At least based on the fact that Quicken tried to make a program to make the porting easier but it sucked (it failed to match up transactions properly - ie that the -500 that left my checking account is the same +500 that arrived in my brokerage)

In my opinion, most people who would use these tools, are the kind of people who were using Quicken or MSM before GnuCash came along. To get us to switch, we need to be able to port our data in a simple and robust way.

just a thoight...