W
walterbyrd
All of the following is based my limited understanding, and my
opinions. Please correct me if I am wrong about any of this.
* Cost advantage: QuickBooks simple start is free:
http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/free-accounting-software.jhtml
Or I can buy the full version of QuickBooks in only $128:
http://www.qbpro2008.com/quickbooks-2008-coupons-for-amazon/
Seems to me that any cost advantage of using a foss alternative is
negligible.
* Ease of use: Somewhat debatable. But some people site this as a
primary reason for Intuit's amazing success with QuickBooks -
supposedly 87% of small businesses use QuickBooks. Although, I have to
wonder how the number of foss users can be accurately counted?
* Integration with online banking: my understanding is that only
intuit or msft products can easily integrate with online banking. Not
absolutely sure about that.
* Payroll: very regional, and changes often == not well suited for
foss.
* Taxes: somewhat regional, and changes often == not well suited for
foss.
* Wide acceptance: I think most businesses are much more comfortable
using products that are accepted standards.
* Wealth of available add-ons: Intuit has a very active community of
3rd party developers. You can buy practically any kind of an add-on
you can imagine. These add-ons cost money, but at least they are
available.
* Major company: I think a lot of businesses are not comfortable with
a product unless there is a major company behind that product. I have
to admit, even I am not comfortable with software products that are
essentially one man operations.
* Support: I can always hire somebody who knows quickbooks, or find a
"ProAdvisor" consultant, or I can get support from the company, and
there are hundreds - if not thousands - of developers who specialize
in developing for quickbooks. I can not see where that is true for any
project.
* Training availability and costs. I can hire people who already know
quickbooks. If I hire somebody to work on some foss alternative, then
there will be a significant training expense. Of course, there is also
the issue of training availability.
* Documentation: If I had to pick one thing that kills the usefulness
of more foss projects than anything else, this would win in a slam-
dunk. Of course, this varies among projects, some foss projects have
great documentation. But, I can always find plenty of books, or other
documentation for popular proprietary financial apps.
* Many accountants, maybe as many as 200,000, use QB and recommend it
to their clients. Some accountants will charge much more for files
that are not in QB format.
* QB has much better 3rd party integration. For example, ecommerce
packages like oscommerce, and magento, work with quickbooks, not foss
alternatives. Msft accounting works with ebay. I can not find that
sort of integration with foss software.
opinions. Please correct me if I am wrong about any of this.
* Cost advantage: QuickBooks simple start is free:
http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/free-accounting-software.jhtml
Or I can buy the full version of QuickBooks in only $128:
http://www.qbpro2008.com/quickbooks-2008-coupons-for-amazon/
Seems to me that any cost advantage of using a foss alternative is
negligible.
* Ease of use: Somewhat debatable. But some people site this as a
primary reason for Intuit's amazing success with QuickBooks -
supposedly 87% of small businesses use QuickBooks. Although, I have to
wonder how the number of foss users can be accurately counted?
* Integration with online banking: my understanding is that only
intuit or msft products can easily integrate with online banking. Not
absolutely sure about that.
* Payroll: very regional, and changes often == not well suited for
foss.
* Taxes: somewhat regional, and changes often == not well suited for
foss.
* Wide acceptance: I think most businesses are much more comfortable
using products that are accepted standards.
* Wealth of available add-ons: Intuit has a very active community of
3rd party developers. You can buy practically any kind of an add-on
you can imagine. These add-ons cost money, but at least they are
available.
* Major company: I think a lot of businesses are not comfortable with
a product unless there is a major company behind that product. I have
to admit, even I am not comfortable with software products that are
essentially one man operations.
* Support: I can always hire somebody who knows quickbooks, or find a
"ProAdvisor" consultant, or I can get support from the company, and
there are hundreds - if not thousands - of developers who specialize
in developing for quickbooks. I can not see where that is true for any
project.
* Training availability and costs. I can hire people who already know
quickbooks. If I hire somebody to work on some foss alternative, then
there will be a significant training expense. Of course, there is also
the issue of training availability.
* Documentation: If I had to pick one thing that kills the usefulness
of more foss projects than anything else, this would win in a slam-
dunk. Of course, this varies among projects, some foss projects have
great documentation. But, I can always find plenty of books, or other
documentation for popular proprietary financial apps.
* Many accountants, maybe as many as 200,000, use QB and recommend it
to their clients. Some accountants will charge much more for files
that are not in QB format.
* QB has much better 3rd party integration. For example, ecommerce
packages like oscommerce, and magento, work with quickbooks, not foss
alternatives. Msft accounting works with ebay. I can not find that
sort of integration with foss software.