Gnucash is a good program, but you better know how to use your ldd command to get the bastard installed. It relies on so many libraries that a newbie would get fed up with it and run quicken.
I've been using the version that comes with Debian unstable since day one, and I've never had the slightest problems. Yes, the GnuCash homepage has a few scary remarks about its tangled dependencies, but the Debian guys did a great job to make this as smooth as for any other software.
More interesting than the review itself, here is conrad's comment from madpenguin.org (I'm including it below because the server is already slashdotted):
For those of you who would be prepared to pay money for Moneydance, can I recommend that you look at Gnucash and save your money. MadJudu waves his hand at Gnucash and dismisses it, and then goes on to praise MoneyDance for now doing what Gnucash has mostly been able to do for several years.
The Gnucash interface mightn't have the "lean and mean" look that MadJudu favours, but it is fairly simple and after a small amount of aclimatization (it is very different from quicken), you will (in my opinion) find it far more useful.
Gnucash does most of the other things MoneyDance does, plus a few extras. Gnucash can interface with HBCI (the German online computer banking standard). Gnucash doesn't have the budgeting features (yet), but does have simple Accounts Payable/Accounts Receivable functionality for people with slightly more complicated accounting requirements.
Most of the complaints and comments MadJudu makes about MoneyDance also apply to Gnucash. In fact, I almost wondered if MadJudu was reviewing Gnucash at times.
So, whats the biggest selling point for Gnucash over MoneyDance? Price! Why spend US$30, when the Gnucash developers charge you the princely sum of NOTHING in whatever currency you prefer. Same low price, always!
The biggest disadvantage (for those so afflicted) is that Gnucash does not run on any Microsoft OS. Linux, MacOS-X, and FreeBSD are available. Probably others too.
Get Gnucash from your favourite Linux distribution (its packaged by all major distributions), or visit http://www.gnucash.org/ for more details.
A user's comment on this review at madpenguin.org states the obvious:
What about GnuCash? It
turns out that GnuCash is very comparable to this product in
terms of features, and for somebody who'd rather stick with free
software, there should be no rational need to buy MoneyDance.
I've been using GnuCash for my personal accounting for a year and a
half now, and I must say that it's absolutely enough for all that I
need (I'm a freelance consultant), and lots of interesting new
features are on the horizon.
As far as the record labels are concerned, the problem is that this fee would be a compensation for them for the money they lose to direct digital distribution. Before long, however, direct digital distribution will be the standard means to distribute music. P2P is not just a costly nuisance for the record labels, it is indeed the ultimate threat to their existence. Which is why they will be fighting tooth and nail against such a fee, and against P2P networks in general.
Well, even if it was mentioned you probably wouldn't read it since you missed the huge X icon and the words Apple at the top of the news item.
To be honest, I noticed both. The word "Apple" did provide some indication that this was going to be Mac-related, and at the same time I started to wonder why the "X" looked so different from when I had last seen it on the XFree86 home page. All of this sent my mind into a "I-know-there's-something-fishy-going-on-here" mode, which lasted for about thirty seconds. Which reminds of this thing that a guy once said to his girl-friend:
"
Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints don't work. Strong hints don't work. Obvious hints don't work. Just say it!"
... ah, now that I've clicked on the link and realized that this is an "Apple" news item, I'm beginning to understand. For Beta 3, please mention in the blurb that this is about a web browser for Macs, thank you:-).
Given that this is an initiative concerning American laws, the "bias" seems natural and legitimate here (while I do agree with your general sentiment).
(In case anyone wonders, the parent post refers to this link from the original article.)
I don't think this is an issue of improper etiquette. I would bet that 95% of all people whose cell phone goes off in a movie theatre are quite embarassed about it. They simply forgot to turn the damn thing off. (Have you never been in a movie/meeting/etc. and remembered half way through that you didn't silence your phone yet?)
So, this is something where a technical solution would be quite welcome, and it would have the added benefit of shutting down those 5% that really have no respect for the people around them.
Don't worry, over here in the States nothing is too trivial to make a cell phone call about, especially when driving it seems.
Looks like you guys still need to learn how to keep an SMS conversation afloat while driving. Quite common here in Europe (and, of course, forbidden by law).
This is from Germany -- there used to be maybe a 5% failure rate some three years ago when I started using SMS. Nowadays it's practically 100% reliable. The only problems I ever have is my cell phone immediately telling me that it couldn't send the message, so I have to try again. This happens when signal strength is bad, mostly, and during network congestion. This is very rare by itself, maybe once every few months.
I haven't had a message that actually failed for more than two years now I guess.
Furthermore, gcj is a native compiler that uses the existing gcc backends. It exhibits the same (even slightly worse) performance as the Sun JDK. The fact that none of the obvious optimizations, e.g. turning off bounds-checking, provided any noticeable improvement, looks extremely odd, though.
Tom Lord, the author of arch, has an interesting comparison of arch vs. Subversion and CVS.
What's really new about arch is that it makes version control decentralized, rather than merely distributed, as CVS and Subversion do. In arch, any branch, any developer's private work area can be regarded as a repository of its own, with a global name space for developers, repositories, and branches, to manage this.
With CVS and Subversion, the repository is still a centralized entity. Compared to arch, these systems are still at a similar conceptual level, while arch adds something that is really new.
Re:By your silly definition, Mr. Editor,
on
Freedom or Power?
·
· Score: 1
However. If I write software, with my time, and my effort, then nobody is going to tell ME under what terms I may let someone else use it. Period.
As long as you write software only for yourself, I think this is utterly clear. Nobody can tell you what you have to do with the bits you created on your hard drive.
But, as soon as you decide to make your software public, I think it is the natural right of the public -- the society -- to stipulate certain conditions.
If you decide to build a car -- with your time, your effort -- this is perfectly fine as long as you stay in your own backyard. As soon as you start driving on public roads, or sell "copies" of your homegrown car to your friends, you have to comply with the society's safety regulations.
Without such regulations, a system of public roads, and individual traffic, wouldn't work.
Slashdot Mirror
I've been using GnuCash for my personal accounting for a year and a half now, and I must say that it's absolutely enough for all that I need (I'm a freelance consultant), and lots of interesting new features are on the horizon.
As far as the record labels are concerned, the problem is that this fee would be a compensation for them for the money they lose to direct digital distribution. Before long, however, direct digital distribution will be the standard means to distribute music. P2P is not just a costly nuisance for the record labels, it is indeed the ultimate threat to their existence. Which is why they will be fighting tooth and nail against such a fee, and against P2P networks in general.
... ah, now that I've clicked on the link and realized that this is an "Apple" news item, I'm beginning to understand. For Beta 3, please mention in the blurb that this is about a web browser for Macs, thank you :-).
(In case anyone wonders, the parent post refers to this link from the original article.)
So, this is something where a technical solution would be quite welcome, and it would have the added benefit of shutting down those 5% that really have no respect for the people around them.
I haven't had a message that actually failed for more than two years now I guess.
Furthermore, gcj is a native compiler that uses the existing gcc backends. It exhibits the same (even slightly worse) performance as the Sun JDK. The fact that none of the obvious optimizations, e.g. turning off bounds-checking, provided any noticeable improvement, looks extremely odd, though.
What's really new about arch is that it makes version control decentralized, rather than merely distributed, as CVS and Subversion do. In arch, any branch, any developer's private work area can be regarded as a repository of its own, with a global name space for developers, repositories, and branches, to manage this.
With CVS and Subversion, the repository is still a centralized entity. Compared to arch, these systems are still at a similar conceptual level, while arch adds something that is really new.
As long as you write software only for yourself, I think this is utterly clear. Nobody can tell you what you have to do with the bits you created on your hard drive.
But, as soon as you decide to make your software public, I think it is the natural right of the public -- the society -- to stipulate certain conditions.
If you decide to build a car -- with your time, your effort -- this is perfectly fine as long as you stay in your own backyard. As soon as you start driving on public roads, or sell "copies" of your homegrown car to your friends, you have to comply with the society's safety regulations.
Without such regulations, a system of public roads, and individual traffic, wouldn't work.