Thank you for all you've done!

[Rene Gerlich]

I have gone through quite some thinking about whether I should send  
this eMail to the devel-list or not. My first impression was not to,  
as I generally find it a bit awkward to publicly announce a donation.  
It has something about showing off and telling everyone what a big  
c... one has. But there's also a good side to it. Especially when it  
comes to gnucash. You developer hackers should know just how much  
your software means to me and what it has done to my life! Maybe the  
story behind the money is worth even more... So here you go:

I am a daily GnuCash user for over three years. I ran into this  
software by accident just at the right time. I got a new job which  
basically doubled my income which must have burned out some fuses in  
my brain. I kept spending more and more money, would travel first  
class and stupid stuff like that.

The last thing I bought before my account reached the credit limit  
was an old Sun Ultra 5. I installed Ximian and found gnucash by  
accident. I've learned book-keeping in school, so I was familiar with  
the basic functionality quickly. Since that day, May 10th, 2005, I  
have been using gnucash pretty much every day for at least 15  
minutes, sometimes hours, to get my finances in order. On that day,  
my life had changed. I started keeping track of each cent, quickly  
found my way to split transactions and various reports. But most of  
all, about half a year later, my account was ballanced out and I had  
all my depts paid back. After about two years of very strict spending  
policies I started living again, and now it is fun, because I can  
afford things now without feeling bad about it. I don't have to worry  
if I can afford it or not. I know! And it there's something too  
expensive to by in one month, like a new bycicle or Mac, I just book  
it as an asset and write it off over a longer time ;-)

Some stats: My datafile has almost reached the 10MB marker (which has  
forced me into buying a new computer because the loading time started  
to bug me ;-). I have about 250 accounts (thats a guess, I have no  
idea how to figure out the exact number other then counting them). My  
paycheck transaction involves 14 different accounts, booking every  
different tax and whatever is special about the transaction. This is  
very helpful when the employer changes something or other for  
whatever reason. I am usually the first one to notice if he's  
screwing us again ;-)

I have spread the word to all of my friends for years, but hardly  
anyone is as picky about it as I. I have also used it to help my  
brother keep track of his finances. He ran into a similar but more  
serious situation as I once, but has no clue about computers. So I  
kept his books for him over the phone! Anything goes!

Anyway, I figured it is about time the project got some benefit from  
this. Everyone has done a tremendous job with this brilliant piece of  
software, and I am thankful to each one of you! Finally it was time  
for a reasonable donation to the project! You deserve every penny! I  
am not sure where I would be today if I did not run into gnucash back  
then. I'd probably still be in dept even more, and would have a much  
more stressful life. You have no idea how happy I am it turned out  
differently!

Buy a large (!) beer and a pizza for every developer. If the amount  
doesn't cover that, get back to me!

Cheers!

Rene