[Discuss] DRM -- Linux financial Software

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On 12/29/2012 09:20 AM, Daniel Barrett wrote:
> Rich Pieri <richard.pieri at gmail.com>
>> If you're using an old operating system -- ANY old operating system --
>> that's out of active support then you deserve whatever happens.
> Sigh... if only it were that straightforward, Rich!
>
> I run old Windows XP for the sole purpose of running Quicken 2006, which
> contains 45 years' worth of my financial records.
>
> I tried moving to Windows 7, but based on reports on the web, Quicken 2006
> "officially" doesn't run correctly only Windows 7, and I'm not about to
> risk vital financial records on "maybe it will work," when a small math
> mistake can have large consequences.
>
> I also tried upgrading to Quicken 2012 on Win7, and it was literally 20x
> slower than Quicken 2006. Switching accounts (clicking on an account name)
> took 2 full seconds to complete instead of 0.1 seconds. (Even when I
> created a new data file with 2 empty accounts.) Sorry, I'm not moving to
> vastly slower software. I have a friend inside Intuit who took the issue to
> their internal support team, and they said, "working as designed."
>
> So, I continue using XP, running in VMware so I (theoretically) never need
> to worry about its obsolescence. (I read the recent post here about
> migrating to a Linux-based financial package. Hmm.)
>
> So, to Rich's point, I would love to upgrade but am basically trapped on
> the old OS.  Did I really "get what I deserve"?  :-)
You might want to look into (as you mentioned) a Linux-based package.
GNU Cash (http://www.gnucash.org/)
MoneyDance (about $40.00 http://freecode.com/projects/moneydance)

I have been using Moneydance ever since I dropped Windows for Linux as
my main desktop system, probably about 15 years ago. During that time, I
have made a few support calls and Sean got back to me personally).

There are a few more, but I am not familiar with them. Both Moneydance
and GNU Cash are adequate replacements for Quicken. Moneydance is
completely Java based. Every year at tax time, I archive my previous
year so my current database only has the current year. When I move to
Moneydance, there was not a viable alternative on Linux.
I found a couple of sites to compare MoneyDance, Quicken, and GNU Cash
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=935954
http://personal-finance-software.findthebest.com/compare/60-96/GnuCash-2-vs-Moneydance

There is a lot of pain in converting from Quicken to another method, but
both MoneyDance and GNU Cash. One issue I see with the above comparison
is that Moneydance does allow you to schedule transactions.
Both Moneydance and GNUCash support QIF files. Here is a blurb on
converting from Quicken to GNUCash.
http://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.0/C/gnucash-help/first-time.html#import-qif

One benefit to both GNUCash and Moneydance is that they have Linux, Mac,
and Windows versions, But, if I were running Quicken in XP in a VM, I
would set up a shared folder, and export a QIF into that, then follow
the instructions in the above website.

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id:3BC1EB90 
PGP Key fingerprint: 49E2 C52A FC5A A31F 8D66  C0AF 7CEA 30FC 3BC1 EB90