It's true, my note to Santa

[John Ralls]

> On Dec 27, 2015, at 5:43 PM, AC <gnucash at acarver.net> wrote:
> 
> On 2015-12-27 16:36, John Ralls wrote:
>> 
>>> On Dec 27, 2015, at 4:25 PM, AC <gnucash at acarver.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>> On 2015-12-27 15:52, Steve wrote:
>>>> Santa hasn't gotten back to me, hoping that he and his elves are working on
>>>> it.
>>>> 
>>>> As we approach 2016, I wish someone out there, publicly or secretly, is
>>>> working toward a functional mobile app running GnuCash.  The current
>>>> unofficial GnuCash app just doesn't deliver the true functional experience
>>>> to allow GnuCash to be incorporated as part of the daily moment to moment
>>>> routine.
>>>> 
>>>> I understand the difficulty, the challenge, the nature of open source, but
>>>> boy, I sure would like to use my phone and post charges, see credits, and
>>>> see balances real time, without waiting till I get home and doing the
>>>> download, upload dance...and the transition to mobile is noticeable, as my
>>>> desktop GnuCash application languishes but continues to beckon me...
>>>> 
>>>> Just wishin', Santa... I'll be back next year (and the year after!)...
>>> 
>>> You're asking for what amounts to a cloud-centered version of GnuCash
>>> which means a cloud-based server somewhere has to store the financial
>>> data of you and every other user in a (ideally, hopefully) secure
>>> fashion (open source has nothing to do with it).  What group of
>>> volunteers do you think would step up to that type of liability never
>>> mind the costs involved in running it?
>> 
>> Really? I thought he was just asking for a full version of GnuCash that runs on his phone/tablet.
>> 
>> Of course if you consider Microsoft's Surface a mobile device, you're already there: GnuCash should run fine on it since it runs Win10. The UI will be pretty uncomfortable without a mouse and keyboard, but it should run.
> 
> Given the state of mobile devices it appears that what he wants would
> require a cloud solution.  Consider that mobile devices currently have
> very limited amount of RAM (not the storage portion, the true RAM
> portion for active programs and data)[1].  It would be very difficult to
> port the entirety of GnuCash over to that platform and have it run
> reliably within the confines of everything else already running on the
> phone.  Even most desktop machines are coming with more than 4 GB of RAM
> now.
> 
> The alternate reading is that there was a desire for instant integration
> between the mobile device and the desktop application which immediately
> implies a cloud.  Short of installing a private VPN service back to the
> home to access a database backend there's no way to get that kind of
> integration without a cloud-based solution.
> 
> 
> 
> [1] Current specs for RAM on various recent devices for some major brands:
> Phone form factor:
> Apple iPhone 6: 1 GB
> Apple iPhone 6S/6S Plus: 2 GB
> Samsung Galaxy S5: 2 GB
> Samsung Galaxy S6: 3 GB
> Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge: 4 GB
> Motorola Droid Turbo 2: 3 GB
> Motorola Nexus 6: 3 GB
> 
> Tablet form factor:
> Samsung Galaxy Note 5: 4 GB
> Apple iPad Pro: 4 GB
> Apple iPad Mini 4: 2 GB
> Apple iPad Air 2: 2 GB
> Apple iPad 4: 1 GB

GnuCash doesn't need much memory. The working set on a freshly-launched instance with a small file is <30MB on my Mac, opening a graphical report doubles that to ~50MB. Tiny compared to running a movie. 

Regards,
John Ralls