[mdlug] Open Source accounting software

[Adam Tauno Williams]

On Thu, 2010-01-28 at 10:47 -0500, R. Kannan wrote:
> Man you are missing out the fun of entering data, answering all those questions
> and clicking on help :-) I feel sorry for you.

Yep, personal-tax-software is a category I've never understood.
*Buying* a personal-tax-package is like paying to be locked naked in a
small cold damp room for several hours.  It seems obvious why there
isn't any Open Source *personal* tax software.... who would want to
spend their time writing that?  ...Yawn...   [There is Open Source ERP
software - but someone gets paid to develop that].

I work in IT - other people pay me to solve their IT issues.  I pay a
mechanic to fix my car, I pay a dentist to maintain my teeth, and I pay
an accountant to do my taxes.  All of them do what they do far more
quickly and effectively than I could perform those same tasks.

> >On Wed, 2010-01-27 at 22:41 -0500, Stan Green wrote:
> >> Are you kidding, H&R Block even dropped Win2K this year. They don't even support 
> >> Win2K if you use their online version. (The do allow Firefox, but only on 
> >> Windows XP or later. So much for the web being OS independent!) I was fighting 
> >> with H&R block CS for over an hour on this. Linux is not even a blip on the 
> >> radar to them.
> >> I was very unhappy that I had to create a XP image in VMWare just to do my 
> >> taxes! I would go back to paper if it was not shooting myself in the foot.
> >> I can only assume the rest are about equal on this issue. TurboTax also dropped 
> >> support for Win2K this year.
> >Makes sense Win2K is no longer supported.
> >I make an appointment at H&R, go there with all the paper work, the man
> >fills out the forms [in what really looks like a Borland OWL app!], and
> >then he hands me an envelope to stick the check in and mail.
> >When I get home I write the check, enter that into GNUcash, and mail the
> >envelope.
> >All 100% LINUX/GNOME compatible and hassle free.