`Balance' dialog box.. what is it for.

[Wiggins d Anconia]

> "Wiggins d Anconia" <wiggins at danconia.org> writes:
> 
> Wiggins, I appreciate the gest of your comments and see I'll need to
> spend time on docu.  But lets not build a straw man here to defend
> against.
> 
> > Not sure if this is a common thread topic, but I would like to say I am
> > very glad GnuCash is not just another simple check entry program, I can
> 
> No reason to be glad handing the product; no one has said it should be
> `just' anything.  Only that it should not make doing simple check book
> accounting a major time sink.  That is one halmark of good software.
> It makes things easier.

Not glad handing the product, but since joining the list recently I have
only seen people rant about how the software can't accomplish their
simple tasks.  It isn't simple check book accounting software (or maybe
it is?). And the halmark of good software isn't that it makes *all*
tasks easier. GnuCash makes a very hard and time intensive task much,
much easier, it just so happens you don't have that task!

Ok so I will ask the question I thought I knew the answer to, is GnuCash
trying to be all things to everyone, a simple check book accounting
program, or is it designed and geared towards more interesting tasks? 
Possibly in the case of the latter this needs to be made much more
explicit, lest the software become another pile designed completely to
do simple tasks.

> 
> > accomplish that with a text editor easily enough.  
> 
> You've gone clear around the bend here.  I've used about all the unix
> type editors.  Quite a lot really.  I've yet to see one doing math as I
> type in it.  Haven't noticed one to account for recurring payments
> either.  Field presentation on and on ...
> 

So all of a sudden you have a simple check book register that does
"recurring payments and field presentation and on and on"?  Ok so maybe
I went overly simple, but if you really only have one account, and one
balance and have as little money to account for that you can remember
where it all went in your head then get a calculator out and do some
simple addition (or you ought to be able to reconcile it in your head
too).  So not quite so simple, use a spreadsheet, this is the one place
that they are good for, maintaining a single account, and they even do
addition for you.

> To make a text editor do those things would take extensive programmign
> skills.

Vim and/or Emacs probably have a plugin to do it, have you checked?

> 
> Lets not get too silly with our comments.
> 

Not even going to go there....

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