[Discuss] Finance software for Linux

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On 01/14/2015 08:26 AM, Matthew Gillen wrote:
> On 1/14/2015 8:05 AM, Jerry Feldman wrote:
>> > Unfortunately there are only a few companies in the industry who
>> > produce tax software, and they only Windows and Mac compatible, or
>> > you can use the web interfaces. This type of software does not really
>> > lend itself to to Open Source.
> Why do you say that?  Because it requires a lot of specialized knowledge
> that typical CS majors don't have?  There are certain projects in the
> open source world that have to pay attention to regulatory issues (e.g.
> wireless drivers), and they seem to be able to do so.
>
> I suppose the tax code is orders of magnitude more complex and
> intertwined.  I'd be curious to explore your statement a little more
> though regarding what kinds of things lend themselves to open source
While products like Quicken can certainly be Open Source (eg GNU Cash)
my comment is mostly for the tax software. The development companies
invest a lot of resources, not only in software developers but also in
tax professionals. Could an Open Source development company make those
investments. Or, what if Intuit decided to Open Source TurboTax, it
would still require a rather large investment not only in developers but
also in tax professionals. You would still have to have a rather large
paid staff.

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
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