Gnucash 1.8.9 +Suse 10.0

[Andrew Sackville-West]

On Mon, 27 Feb 2006 20:43:08 -0800
Art Fore <art.fore at comcast.net> wrote:

> It would take me a couple of hours to write with is wrong with Gnucash.
> I have really not found much to say good about it, but unfortunately,
> that is all there is for Linux. Now I know why one of the major
> complaints is there is no equivalent to Quicken.


I probably should be ignoring this flame-bait, but I can't. Instead of making blanket statements about a project that you obviously only have limited familiarity with, why not try something constructive? For example, you could file Feature-requests in the bug tracker at http://bugzilla.gnome.org/simple-bug-guide.cgi . If you find behavior that is obviously broken and should be considered a bug, you could file it at the same location. This way the developers would have a record of these things and could address them in due time. Also, realise the the 1.8.x series is "done" in that it is not being actively developed anymore. The new version 2.0 expected out sometime this year is under heavy development right now. If you wanted to be helpful you could download, compile, and test the alpha-releases (version 1.9.x) as they come out. Then your bug reports and feature-requests would be timely and appropriate.

You are wrong, there are other accounting packages for linux: kmoney and sql-ledger to name two. If gnucash doesn't suit your needs, maybe you should investigate these other products? They are, like gnucash, open-source and volunteer supported as well and so you would be in the same situation -- features you don't like or are broken would have to go through a similar process of either submitting patches or bug reports in hopes that they get addressed.

As for you remarks about quicken: I don't understand peoples' fascination with a  product that forces the PURCHASE of regular updates to a software package that is already mature and fully functional and very adept at locking up your data by preventing its export and controlling what you can do with YOUR data. Of course, if you are really a fan on quicken, but committed to Linux as a platform, you could always investigate the WINE project. My understanding is that they are fairly close to getting quicken working under WINE and that may suit you better.

Remember that if you are not satisfied with gnucash you are entitled to a full refund of the purchase price: $0.00.

> Having to click
> on options and set the options for each invoice is ludicrus.

The gnucash community is fully aware of the limitations of the 1.8 series. please provide helpful suggestions as to how the product SHOULD work in your estimation. Providing abusive feedback is liable to lead to a total lack of response from the community. Providing helpful and informative critiques about current behavior versus expected behavior is liable to get noticed and cause the project to move in a direction that is more in-line with your expectations.

> Printing options for an invoice
> should be a global options thing.

This is the perfect way to begin a feature-request. Flesh it out with a more detailed description of how you think this should work, put it in bugzilla and see what happens.

> Just setting up the style sheet for invoices is a PITA. You should say
> the optimu size for the logo is 125x125 pixels, not 1 cm or 0.5 inches.
> took me a while to figure that one out.

Try this instead: "I was confused when setting up the stylesheet for an invoice. The requirement for a pixel size could probably be better expressed using cm or inches. Is it possible that this could be added as a feature in the future?"

> Unfortunately, I am not a programmer, so am not able to
> submit any patches.

That's great. The developers have always said that non-programmer users are the best testers as they interact with software in ways that programmers could never anticipate thus highlighting areas of deficiency that programmers would never encounter. IOW, a willing non-programmer working as a tester is a valuable thing. Your constructive feedback on your experiences as a user, presented in a methodical and objective manner would be a great way for you to contribute to the project, if you are so inclined.


The great thing about a project like gnucash is that you are free to do with it what you will. If you like it but think it needs improvement and want to contribute, there are many ways to do so. If you like it and just want to use it, great as well. If you don't like it, and don't want to use it or be involved with it, then you are welcome to move on. I could understand your frustration if you had paid good hard-earned money for the package and found that it didn't meet your expectations, but since gnucash is free (beer and speech) software, you might want to think about the tone you use in addressing your concerns about the package. 


A
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