The Grumpy Editor's next project [LWN.net]

The Grumpy Editor's next project

Posted May 10, 2007 6:49 UTC (Thu) by davidw (subscriber, #947)
Parent article: The Grumpy Editor's next project

Cool! I've been looking into this for my own business as well, and the scene is not a good one.

One idea: the world is moving towards the web in any case, why not do a web-based system that, unlike Compiere or OFBiz, is focused solely on accounting. I bet a flashy looking, Rails, ajaxy application would:

1) Do ok in generating adsense if set up as the flagship website for the project, perhaps with some sort of pay for premium user level.

2) Inspire other people to collaborate.

You'd have to manage the community aspects well to make 1) above work - prominently let people know that they can download the premium version and use it for free on their own servers (or even set up their own sites), or pay to support the project.

Just an idea, but in any case, best of luck... this is something we need!

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web-based accounting

Posted May 10, 2007 15:59 UTC (Thu) by rfunk (subscriber, #4054) [Link]

"why not do a web-based system that, unlike Compiere or OFBiz, is focused solely on
accounting."

I believe that's what SQL-Ledger and its offshoots are.

My prediction, having scanned this scene a while back, is that LedgerSMB will come out
on top in this list, but still not be quite good enough. I hope I'm wrong on that last part.

web-based accounting

Posted May 10, 2007 17:00 UTC (Thu) by tjc (guest, #137) [Link]

My prediction, having scanned this scene a while back, is that LedgerSMB will come out on top in this list [snip]

My dart landed in the same circle.

I will be following this series with great interest, as I find myself in a very similar situation. The real fun begins when one tries to export data from QB in a way that doesn't require some error-prone manual procedure.

web-based accounting

Posted May 31, 2007 21:27 UTC (Thu) by einhverfr (guest, #44407) [Link]

LedgerSMB 1.2.x has been a very painful branch (sort of like Apache 2.0.x). This was largely due to the fact that we started to refactor code from a codebase that was so utterly complex that nobody understands it properly. Also, many of the bugs we have corrected have also shown up in mainline SQL-Ledger branch, so....

My suggestion is to look towards LSMB 1.3 (current svn /trunk) to see where we are going with that. The releases will only get better as we get the codebase under some sort of sane and cunderstandable code structure. This will allow for a great deal more automated testing and more.

The Grumpy Editor's next project

Posted May 31, 2007 21:17 UTC (Thu) by einhverfr (guest, #44407) [Link]

I would recommend looking at LedgerSMB as a web-based accounting app. Disclaimer: I am highly involved in the project as a core developer.

We started as a fork of SQL-Ledger and have been focusing a great deal on nailing down the accounting and security logic of the application. The upcoming 1.3 release will feature:

role-based security (with real enforcement, unlike the codebase we inherited)

solid contact management and an ability for a customer to also be a vendor

RESTful web service interface

Vouchers and separation of duties

GAAP-compliant ways of correcting errors

and much, much more.