GC for Ecuador?

[Frank Marion]

On 2008-12-16, at 1:06 PM, Steve J wrote:
> I'm at an eco-lodge in Ecuador where the owners use pen and paper  
> bookkeeping except for mayroll, which they do with Quickbooks. The  
> lodge has a dozen employees and the owner says that the tax  
> situation in Ecuador makes using Quickbooks for bookkeeping  
> inpractical. I've been using GC for personal finace for several  
> years but does anyone have any idea as to whether it would be  
> reasonable for me to encourage them to try it out here. The current  
> system looks awward, not awfully useful and primitive.


I can't speak as to whether GC is good for doing payroll, I've always  
operated on a per-contract basis. I have successfully used GC for  
personal finances, and my business, and have been quite happy with it.


Here are advantages that GnuCash ash over Intuit products.

* Use it as you want when you want. Ever try changing an intuit  
product from one hard drive to another over a weekend? You don't have  
to call GnuCash staff to ask for permission (and give all your up-to- 
date contact and personal information) to use your program. Inuit will  
force you to re-activate the software if you change hard drives.  
Calling on a Friday after 5PM EST. Too bad. Wait until Monday, and  
hope it's not a long weekend.

* Updates on a regular basis with useful features. GC does not have  
all the features in the world yet. True. But the team responds to what  
the users ask for. Intuit is still based on a zillion year old system  
where corruption has to be checked for at every quitting time, and  
backing up is not for your safety, but to cover their own butts.

* Feel secure that you you are not being spied on by a company that  
does lots of background checks that may potentially reveal personal  
information so that they can feel certain that they aren't being  
pirated.

*Free you from the incessant attempts to get you to buy GC "add-ons"  
that promote their bottom line, and the bottom line of their  
affiliates, rather than attempting to offer you a genuine service that  
YOU want or need. Has it occurred to you that each time they load an  
ad from their web-server, that they are keeping track of your usage  
patterns?

* Provide you with quick efficient support via a list. Sure, you don't  
get to wait for 40 minutes (long distance) that you've paid for, but  
as you see, the responses here are reasonably quick and accurate. GC  
has a community. Intuit has shareholders. Which do you think care more  
about you?

* Provide you with cross-platform alternatives. For free. And you can  
move your files from one machine to another without having to purchase  
another copy of GC. Try THAT with any intuit product.

I understand that it may *look* primitive-- Unlike Intuit products, GC  
is written by volunteer programmers and responds to the users needs  
and the natural desire to create an excellent product, rather than the  
marketing department's masturbation and shareholder pressure to whip  
something out the door. The fact is, that a pretty colour scheme, ka- 
ching! sounds and self-promotional pop-ups do not really enhance your  
ability to successfully manage your books and run your business  
successfully.

Can GC be improved to *look* nicer and be more candy-like? Yes. Does  
it have lots of little touches that could be added? Sure. Will they  
be? That is most likely based on user demand.

Personally, I'm drawn to GC specifically because it has a hierarchical  
display. What some call "flimsy" I call "light-weight". I've never had  
any calculation issues with it, but I'll admit that I've never used it  
for very heavy lifting. I think the question "Is it reasonable to  
suggest GC" really depends on knowing precisely what the user's needs  
are then checking them off one by one with a yes or no answer.

Programmers have the following saying: 'You can have it fast, you can  
have it good, you have have it cheap". Pick two. With GC, you have  
good and inexpensive. With Inuit...

My 2 cents

--
Frank Marion
lists at frankmarion.com