>According to the vendor you can use Quicken >to prepare your taxes. This must mean that >QuickBooks cannot be far behind.
Jack Hatfield properly pointed out privately that we cannot get QuickBooks running on Linux until we get a replacement for Internet Explorer. He also said I should check MyBooks, which seems to be as close as it gets so far. I agree, but keep hoping.
A second user, who did not give permission for credit, wrote that he was running Quicken on Win4Lin under Mandrake 9.0. His post said, "The advantage of Win4Lin is that the Window system is running as a task under Linux, so you do not have to worry about the API's not being exactly as Windows or the running programs expect them. They are the Windows API's, not what Codeweavers thinks the API's are. I also have the programs running from and accessing the data files on my Windows partition, so if I run on windows, the data files are not in sync, they are the SAME files.
I would like to get the sound working on Quicken, but the problem is that I haven't installed Quicken on the Window that is mounted on Linux. I believe the sound files have to be in the registry (the dumbest idea in software history) before Quicken can find them. The problem with installing is that I then loose all my updates. I keep hoping that Intuit will get smart and release a Linux version of Quicken."
On Tue, 21 Jan 2003 10:11:33 -0500, Mike Block - Tax Cut C.P.A.
<mbl...@blocktax.com> wrote: >I keep hoping >that Intuit will get smart and release a Linux >version of Quicken."
Well Mike - I don't.
I hope that someone else releases an accounting package for Lunix that has a user friendly interface.
Since QB is built around IE I can't see Intuit rewriting the code to eliminate that dependence; after all, they still have old 16-bit DOS code in Quicken. I also do not believe that Intuit's "culture" would be acceptable to a large fraction of Linux users. While all Linux software is certainly not free, the high priced, pick-the-pockets-of-your-customers model that Intuit uses does not seem consistent with the Linux open source philosophy.
On 22 Jan 2003 05:13:31 GMT, mat...@mattdm.org (Matthew Miller) wrote:
>Mike Block - Tax Cut C.P.A. <mbl...@blocktax.com> wrote: >>I then loose all my updates. I keep hoping >>that Intuit will get smart and release a Linux >>version of Quicken."
>I'm not holding my breath -- after decades of incremental additions, I bet >the code is a huge mess and not very portable. But I hope I'm wrong. :)
You will not need to hold your breath.
This involves a big selling point for the 12,000 developers that Intuit now has. A complete rewrite of QuickBooks is well underway.
Intuit is giving developers access to code they can reuse.
Me wonders if **12,000** developers working at random will eventually write something of substance, just like those legendary monkeys... The company itself seemingly cannot sell the program on new features any more...and are rife to 'fine print' their new profits out of customers backsides...
> On 22 Jan 2003 05:13:31 GMT, mat...@mattdm.org (Matthew Miller) wrote:
> >Mike Block - Tax Cut C.P.A. <mbl...@blocktax.com> wrote: > >>I then loose all my updates. I keep hoping > >>that Intuit will get smart and release a Linux > >>version of Quicken."
> >I'm not holding my breath -- after decades of incremental additions, I bet > >the code is a huge mess and not very portable. But I hope I'm wrong. :)
> You will not need to hold your breath.
> This involves a big selling point for > the 12,000 developers that Intuit now > has. A complete rewrite of QuickBooks > is well underway.
> Intuit is giving developers access to > code they can reuse.
Mike Block - Tax Cut C.P.A. <mbl...@blocktax.com> wrote:
>You will not need to hold your breath. >This involves a big selling point for >the 12,000 developers that Intuit now >has. A complete rewrite of QuickBooks >is well underway.
I can see Quickbooks more likely than Quicken.
>Intuit is giving developers access to >code they can reuse.
On 26 Jan 2003 21:48:39 GMT, mat...@mattdm.org (Matthew Miller) wrote:
>Mike Block - Tax Cut C.P.A. <mbl...@blocktax.com> wrote: >>You will not need to hold your breath. >>This involves a big selling point for >>the 12,000 developers that Intuit now >>has. A complete rewrite of QuickBooks >>is well underway.
>I can see Quickbooks more likely than Quicken.
>>Intuit is giving developers access to >>code they can reuse.
>Really? Under what license?
The free license that lets developers access various versions of QuickBooks and QuickBase (and to a lesser extent QuickBooks Canada) with the same code.
>>Mike Block - Tax Cut C.P.A. <mbl...@blocktax.com> wrote: >>>You will not need to hold your breath. >>>This involves a big selling point for >>>the 12,000 developers that Intuit now >>>has. A complete rewrite of QuickBooks >>>is well underway.
>>I can see Quickbooks more likely than Quicken.
>>>Intuit is giving developers access to >>>code they can reuse.
>>Really? Under what license?
>The free license that lets developers >access various versions of QuickBooks >and QuickBase (and to a lesser extent >QuickBooks Canada) with the same code.
Mike, How does this standard API and set of Windows based tools, etc.. lead to a port of Quickbooks to a completely different platform. Just look at how long it took them to come up with a new Mac version. Even then, it seems the Mac version is substantially different, with no file compatibility and not the same mix of features.
Here are factors I see hindering a port of a full featured Linux Quickbooks version.
1. Quickbooks is very dependant on Internet Explorer, ActiveX, and other Microsoft proprietary technologies. A complete rewrite could fix that but is unlikely because of 2. There is the new developers interface which, from what I can see, was never intended to be cross platform. Making the developers API platform independant will require major work, and possible scrapping of parts of it. They don't seem to be able to have anything but minimal compatibility between the Mac and Windows platforms, adding a wide open environment such as Linux would probably need a completely different approach than current. 3. Product activation and other DRM related technologies don't really work under Linux, and Linux users are very vocal in their opposition to such technologies. The comparitively high cost of QB compared to what most Linux software costs will be a major factor. Add to that the normal expectation for Linux software to work with almost any standard GUI, scripting tools, etc.. and you have a major case for disgruntled Linux users.
In short, I see Linux and Intuit going in very different directions.
Mike Block - Tax Cut C.P.A. <mbl...@blocktax.com> wrote:
>>>Intuit is giving developers access to >>>code they can reuse. >>Really? Under what license? >The free license that lets developers >access various versions of QuickBooks >and QuickBase (and to a lesser extent >QuickBooks Canada) with the same code.
Isn't this just API stuff to drive the existing binary program?
On 29 Jan 2003 21:00:53 GMT, mat...@mattdm.org (Matthew Miller) wrote:
>Mike Block - Tax Cut C.P.A. <mbl...@blocktax.com> wrote: >>>>Intuit is giving developers access to >>>>code they can reuse. >>>Really? Under what license? >>The free license that lets developers >>access various versions of QuickBooks >>and QuickBase (and to a lesser extent >>QuickBooks Canada) with the same code.
>Isn't this just API stuff to drive the existing binary program?
Yes, I see from this that my view on this was simplistic. It will take Intuit co-operation.
Mike Block - Tax Cut C.P.A. <mbl...@blocktax.com> wrote:
>How do Linux installs compare to Mac installs.
[sorry for the slow reply]
I'm not sure what you're asking, exactly. The underlying system for Mac OS X is similar to Linux many fundamental ways, but the GUI layer and high-level APIs are quite different.
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