GnuCash 2.0.0 released

  Accounting in Linux Leaps Forward

*/GnuCash 2.0.0 milestone released to public/*

Personal and small business accounting in Linux will be easier and 
better after today's release of GnuCash 2.0.0.

This milestone release of the free, open source accounting program 
includes generational advances over the last version. GnuCash 2.0.0 is 
based on state-of-the-art gtk2 GUI technology. Developers worked hard to 
integrate the Gnome Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) for a consistent 
behaviour and look-and-feel for the whole Desktop.

Major changes in the milestone release include;

    * OFX DirectConnect which can directly retrieve and import account
      statements over the Internet.
    * A "Hide account" feature to keep a better overview of your current
      accounts tabbed window functionality.
    * The ability to create budgets within GnuCash using your account data.
    * Support for Accounting Periods.
    * The data file format has been improved with respect to
      international characters. Data files with international characters
      can be transferred to other countries flawlessly.
    * GnuCash Help and Guide are now fully integrated with the GNOME
      Help system (Yelp).

The GnuCash development team said these new features and changes will 
make GnuCash easier than ever for newcomers.

GnuCash is the leading free, open source accounting program and the leap 
to gtk2 will enable users to be able to enjoy cutting edge functionality 
with the freedom of not being locked into proprietory file formats.

*Playing With Others*

As with other leading Linux software that is designed to replace 
proprietory programs, GnuCash is a functional replacement for expensive 
accounting programs. Like OpenOffice.org and The Gimp, GnuCash is also 
programmed to communicate and interact with as many existing programs, 
institutions and people as possible.

The GnuCash development team has continued to improve file import 
filters, which allow users to import work from old programs like 
Microsoft Money and Quicken. GnuCash can load QIF and QFX files, which 
are used by both of those programs.

Developers have also continued to incorporate support for online banking 
into the program. GnuCash 2.0.0 supports OFX DirectConnect which can 
directly retrieve and import account statements over the Internet.

The milestone release is available in 29 languages, including English, 
French, German, Spanish, Norwegian, so people from around the world will 
have no difficulty operating the program

*Off on the Right Foot*

Users of the GnuCash 2.0.0 will notice a few changes when they start the 
program. Improvements have been made on startup speed, scheduled 
transactions, currency support and currency quote retrievals.

After they enter the program, users will find a double-ledger account 
system, exhaustive report options and account hierarchy tools. Also at 
their disposal is a full system of tutorials and documentation.

*Getting GnuCash*

GnuCash 2.0.0 can be downloaded from gnucash.org. It is available as 
source code.

To install GnuCash, users will need Gnome 2, guile, slib and g-wrap.

*http://www.gnucash.org <http://www.gnucash.org/pub/gnucash/>*

*http://download.sourceforge.net/gnucash 
<http://download.sourceforge.net/gnucash/>*

*About the Program*

GnuCash is a free, open source accounting program released under the GNU 
General Public License (GPL) and available for GNU/Linux, *BSD, Solaris 
and Mac OSX. It is collaboratively developed by 10 people from over 5 
countries.

Programming on GnuCash began in 1997, and its first stable release was 
in 1998.