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An open-source alternative to QuickBooks

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Re: An open-source alternative to QuickBooks

#161

Post by cpach »

capableweb wrote: post #157
rco8786 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 'support' link is a link to Discord For a FOSS project targeting people who are comfortable using FOSS this seems entirely fine...desirable even. "We don't have money for phone staff who would put you on hold and only be reading off scripted responses anyway, but you can come chat directly with the leaders and maintainers of the software by chat".

Discord (and other non-indexable chats like Slack) is where conversations go to die and be hidden forever. FOSS and other "open" projects should be using something like Zulip, or even anything else, that can actually be indexed by Google and other search engines. I'm a part of a few Discords, and questions are repeated over and over again, forever. People who answer the questions, get tired of answering the same thin…

Personally I like Discourse. Similar to an old-school forum like phpbb, but with a neat and modern UI.

Re: An open-source alternative to QuickBooks

#162

Post by Naga »

edpichler wrote: post #103
xvilka wrote: post #29

There's also Plain Text Accounting[1]. The biggest problem of all open source solutions, accountants' experience aside, is the lack of banking and taxes integration, especially outside of US, e.g. for Asian, South American, or African businesses. The most promising FOSS solution for SME I was able to find is Akaunting[2][3]. [1] https://plaintextaccounting.org/ [2] https://akaunting.com/ [3] https://github.com/akaunt…

Guys, all of this amazing text based accounting software are very interesting to me. Does anyone knows if is there any feature for automatic registering of depreciation? If not, how to do not forget to register and how to keep track of all assets that will depreciate? Separated file?

You'd need to write a script yourself for this. The general ledger generally doesn't include enough information about all of your assets, expected end of useful life, serials, etc. It's pretty common for accounting software packages to track this stuff and calculate depreciation, but like you're guessing its a separate process.

I was an accountant in a former life, and this is a question that most companies end up solving with their accounting software. Last time I looked into ledger or hledger it didn't include this stuff (or I didn't notice that it did).

Re: An open-source alternative to QuickBooks

#163

Post by hluska »

nulbyte wrote: post #18
bratao wrote: post #2

I can't help but feel compelled to pause my current tasks and contribute wholeheartedly to this. My frustration with Intuit has reached its tipping point, especially after they acquired a Brazilian financial management software called Zeropaper, which my company heavily relied upon. Intuit then proceeded to discontinue the product and withdraw from the Brazilian market without offering any viable alternatives, leavin…

> I can't help but feel compelled to pause my current tasks and contribute wholeheartedly to this. That is interesting to me, because I had the complete opposite take after less than a minute on the website. I actively avoid QuickBooks because I despise Intuit. But there is no way I would take a project like this seriously when the 'support' link is a link to Discord. Competing with QuickBooks means competing for bus…

This sort of armchair quarterbacking is why many people won’t open source things.

Instead of shitting on someone’s work, get involved and make changes. It’s easier and keeps people involved.

Re: An open-source alternative to QuickBooks

#164

Post by balaselvam »

jrm4 wrote: post #156
balaselvam wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the company is serious enough about competing with Quickbooks and solving a real customer problem, Discord is not going to cut it.

Seems like a brilliant way to choose your customers, actually. A great way to avoid Pareto rule type problems that suck away too much time. I could easily imagine that e.g. 200 "smart customers who need very little help" could be more profitable than 1000 who do, after a time v. money calculation.

Makes me think who's the customer here. Is this the engg team that's going to host it or the finance team who's the primary user of the product.

If the final user is finance, should the support be targeted towards them?

Re: An open-source alternative to QuickBooks

#165

Post by metadaemon »

cpach wrote: post #161
capableweb wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Discord (and other non-indexable chats like Slack) is where conversations go to die and be hidden forever. FOSS and other "open" projects should be using something like Zulip, or even anything else, that can actually be indexed by Google and other search engines. I'm a part of a few Discords, and questions are repeated over and over again, forever. People who answer the questions, get tired of answering the same thin…

Personally I like Discourse. Similar to an old-school forum like phpbb, but with a neat and modern UI.

I know some of the guys that work there too, really cool people.

Re: An open-source alternative to QuickBooks

#166

Post by TheCaptain4815 »

bratao wrote: post #2

I can't help but feel compelled to pause my current tasks and contribute wholeheartedly to this. My frustration with Intuit has reached its tipping point, especially after they acquired a Brazilian financial management software called Zeropaper, which my company heavily relied upon. Intuit then proceeded to discontinue the product and withdraw from the Brazilian market without offering any viable alternatives, leavin…

They did THE EXACT same thing with TradeGecko, an amazing piece of software. RIP

Re: An open-source alternative to QuickBooks

#168

Post by ta8903 »

rco8786 wrote: post #151
nulbyte wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't help but feel compelled to pause my current tasks and contribute wholeheartedly to this. That is interesting to me, because I had the complete opposite take after less than a minute on the website. I actively avoid QuickBooks because I despise Intuit. But there is no way I would take a project like this seriously when the 'support' link is a link to Discord. Competing with QuickBooks means competing for bus…

> 'support' link is a link to Discord For a FOSS project targeting people who are comfortable using FOSS this seems entirely fine...desirable even. "We don't have money for phone staff who would put you on hold and only be reading off scripted responses anyway, but you can come chat directly with the leaders and maintainers of the software by chat".

Discord really isn't acceptable as long as they require a phone number to sign in.

Re: An open-source alternative to QuickBooks

#169

Post by wrycoder »

master-lincoln wrote: post #143
robomartin wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, there are lots of businesses who fit this description. This is nothing new. That does not mean that millions don't benefit from and are happy using Quickbooks. Before the mob interprets what I am saying through their reality distortion field, I should note I am NOT hating on FOSS and defending closed-source software as general categories. There is such a thing as useful industry-standard software on both s…

Why are you so aggressive in your tone? > This is nothing new. That does not mean that millions don't benefit Nobody claimed this is new or that not millions benefit or are happy with QB (source needed though). > Before the mob interprets what I am saying through their reality distortion field Which mob? Reality distortion? Nobody was accusing you of hating FOSS, why do you feel you need to defend yourself? > This do…

Actually, I appreciate the definite opinions and colorful language. And, the POV expressed is realistic, IMO.

Re: An open-source alternative to QuickBooks

#170

Post by balderdash »

kisamoto wrote: post #107
balderdash wrote: post #32

Why would one use this over GNU Cash?

GNUCash (which I also use btw) is a local install without multi-user web management. If you're a single person working on the taxes then GNUCash may tick all boxes (although another comment mentioned the need for inventory management which GNUCash doesn't support). It looks like this offers more of a web approach without the need for a local install so it can be a bit more collaborative. Also - and this is personal p…

Thanks I was missing yhe multi-web user element
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