[GNC] Negative numbers

[ToddAndMargo]

On 2020-09-13 00:39, Chris Green wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 12, 2020 at 02:40:51PM -0700, ToddAndMargo via gnucash-user wrote:
>>
>> You ever get a letter from Red hat or Wine or Libre
>> Office explaining that you need to "hire" them to
>> get your bugs fixed?  This is the open source model.
>> Open source is not a free lunch.
>>
> It varies.  I guess it depends on how many people there are at the
> 'core' of developing/maintaining something and how most of them spend
> their time and earn their living.
> 
> Some really do write software for fun and really don't want to earn
> any money as a consequence.  Quite a few are professional software
> people with a paid day job who work on open source in their spare
> time, or (as I have quite a few times over many years of working as a
> software engineer) provide fixes and debug things which are being used
> in their 'professional' work.
> 
> There are also quite a few quite big projects which have paid for and
> open source versions running in parallel.
> 

LibreOffice has a program where companies can get
their developers "certified" as Libre Office developers
and contribute directly to the project.  Works nicely
for well funded companies.  And it is a really good
idea.

Software for love usually is a much smaller project and
large projects require and army at times to develop.
And then funding does becomes an issue.  Users are
expected to pay for the support they get.  That tends
to leave underfunded entities, especially individuals
out in the cold.   (Libre Office still can't print an
envelope for its life!)

That being said, in my experience, paid software tends
to be of poorer quality that does Open Source, with
notable exceptions of course.

Gnu Cash is a wonderful project with a lot of wonderful
people supporting it.  There are a lot of very patient
mensches on this list.