Small entrepreneur and Open Source Software?
- Thread starter gregory house
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vishalrao
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heh, i had posted that "nice way to spam" to another post which was above mine... sayign "here is entrepreneur blah blah" with a spam link i think moderator deleted it 
gregory house
philosopher-in-chief
open source s/w have their own forums/support team (the ones i know have!).
many of these contain a feature request thread. why not use their own expertise (of OS accounting s/w u want to /plan to use!) ?
Accounting software is very different from other kinds of software. You can't just pick something up and start using it. And in the case of small businesses, unless you have used Tally for a long time, it is very difficult to appreciate why it outsells all it competitors combined by a factor of 4 or 5. So any replacement has to maintain the 'flow' and 'structure' that it follows even if the UI is different, so that former Tally users can switch over easily. And I don't find any open source software that does that.
Among proprietary alternatives, Aqura is a good one and comes very close to Tally. We did talk to them and they genuinely tried to solve our problem. But we lost contact with them some years back (the developers moved to the US or something) and the application no longer seems to be maintained.
There are a couple of other alternatives, 'Busy' being one of them. But these applications are too general and don't meet special or specific needs. The only proprietary software developers who offer something (barely) specific are still living in the age of foxpro, dos and making changes to the autoexec.bat file and quote outrageous prices for vaporware. Then there was this famous accounting package for Linux named Kalkulate (god knows what happened to that).
Considering all this, unless someone spends sufficient time looking at the needs of businessmen and making software specific to their needs, writing one's own thing is the only way to go, more so when you know what you exactly need and don't know (or comprehend) exactly what open source alternatives offer.
many of these contain a feature request thread. why not use their own expertise (of OS accounting s/w u want to /plan to use!) ?
Accounting software is very different from other kinds of software. You can't just pick something up and start using it. And in the case of small businesses, unless you have used Tally for a long time, it is very difficult to appreciate why it outsells all it competitors combined by a factor of 4 or 5. So any replacement has to maintain the 'flow' and 'structure' that it follows even if the UI is different, so that former Tally users can switch over easily. And I don't find any open source software that does that.
Among proprietary alternatives, Aqura is a good one and comes very close to Tally. We did talk to them and they genuinely tried to solve our problem. But we lost contact with them some years back (the developers moved to the US or something) and the application no longer seems to be maintained.
There are a couple of other alternatives, 'Busy' being one of them. But these applications are too general and don't meet special or specific needs. The only proprietary software developers who offer something (barely) specific are still living in the age of foxpro, dos and making changes to the autoexec.bat file and quote outrageous prices for vaporware. Then there was this famous accounting package for Linux named Kalkulate (god knows what happened to that).
Considering all this, unless someone spends sufficient time looking at the needs of businessmen and making software specific to their needs, writing one's own thing is the only way to go, more so when you know what you exactly need and don't know (or comprehend) exactly what open source alternatives offer.
The problem with what you suggested is that this custom app will need to be maintained, so fine you get your app working today, how bout in a cpl of yrs time when there are updates
..the cheapest way is to go with off the shelf app that has a good record, but you have been unsuccessful in finding a replacement.
Then the only thing is to make sure you write it or get someone else to do this in a manner that its very easy to maintain with entry level programmers.
why do u think those apps you mentioned are still using DOS, they know there wont be any changes to it so ppl could in theory use it for yrs
..the cheapest way is to go with off the shelf app that has a good record, but you have been unsuccessful in finding a replacement.
Then the only thing is to make sure you write it or get someone else to do this in a manner that its very easy to maintain with entry level programmers.
why do u think those apps you mentioned are still using DOS, they know there wont be any changes to it so ppl could in theory use it for yrs
gregory house
philosopher-in-chief
Yes, maintainability is an issue regarding custom apps. But, consider this fact - the science of accounting / double entry book keeping has not changed in the five centuries since it was first invented by Luca Pacioli. And it is hardly going to change within my lifetime. This is one area where accounting software companies are seriously astray. They have tried to include everything in a single system - accounting, inventory, taxation and compliance. And that only complicates matters. Ideally, these would be completely separate modules which can be linked up without creating a mess. But that is not the case with most apps on the market.
Medium and big companies with enormous transaction volumes cannot afford any kind of duplication. But the smaller lot can afford some amount of that. Someone with about five thousand transactions a year can use one system for inventory management and re-enter the accounting related stuff into the accounting system over the weekend or something. That is something that needs to be thought over - one app for accounting that won't need to be changed, ever and the other one for inventory which can be modified depending on requirements.
why do u think those apps you mentioned are still using DOS, they know there wont be any changes to it so ppl could in theory use it for yrs
Yes, they still make plenty of money peddling the same stuff to lots of people. But I was more concerned with the user interface the offer, the 16-bit limit of DOS that can seriously affect record keeping if you are not careful, and the inability of suppliers to modify the system as per requirements.
Medium and big companies with enormous transaction volumes cannot afford any kind of duplication. But the smaller lot can afford some amount of that. Someone with about five thousand transactions a year can use one system for inventory management and re-enter the accounting related stuff into the accounting system over the weekend or something. That is something that needs to be thought over - one app for accounting that won't need to be changed, ever and the other one for inventory which can be modified depending on requirements.
why do u think those apps you mentioned are still using DOS, they know there wont be any changes to it so ppl could in theory use it for yrs
Yes, they still make plenty of money peddling the same stuff to lots of people. But I was more concerned with the user interface the offer, the 16-bit limit of DOS that can seriously affect record keeping if you are not careful, and the inability of suppliers to modify the system as per requirements.
Medium and big companies with enormous transaction volumes cannot afford any kind of duplication. But the smaller lot can afford some amount of that.
Something does not make sense there...i'd have thought the bigger companies would demand specialisation ie seperate apps which would be tied in via the database..whereas the smaller companies could not afford such specialisation and would therefore have to put up with a jack of trades of sorts.
You are in the unenviable segment where you ahve outgrown the software but not needing the extra bells & whistles along with the price tag the more specialsied stuff offers.
Someone with about five thousand transactions a year can use one system for inventory management and re-enter the accounting related stuff into the accounting system over the weekend or something. That is something that needs to be thought over - one app for accounting that won't need to be changed, ever
..i think this never happens in the world of software, ppl are always agitating for more features of some sort or the other
Yes, they still make plenty of money peddling the same stuff to lots of people. But I was more concerned with the user interface the offer, the 16-bit limit of DOS that can seriously affect record keeping if you are not careful, and the inability of suppliers to modify the system as per requirements.
you'd think that was a niche just waiting for some willing entrepreneur to get into.
Something does not make sense there...i'd have thought the bigger companies would demand specialisation ie seperate apps which would be tied in via the database..whereas the smaller companies could not afford such specialisation and would therefore have to put up with a jack of trades of sorts.
You are in the unenviable segment where you ahve outgrown the software but not needing the extra bells & whistles along with the price tag the more specialsied stuff offers.
Someone with about five thousand transactions a year can use one system for inventory management and re-enter the accounting related stuff into the accounting system over the weekend or something. That is something that needs to be thought over - one app for accounting that won't need to be changed, ever
..i think this never happens in the world of software, ppl are always agitating for more features of some sort or the other
Yes, they still make plenty of money peddling the same stuff to lots of people. But I was more concerned with the user interface the offer, the 16-bit limit of DOS that can seriously affect record keeping if you are not careful, and the inability of suppliers to modify the system as per requirements.
you'd think that was a niche just waiting for some willing entrepreneur to get into.
gregory house
philosopher-in-chief
Something does not make sense there...
I speak only regarding capturing data. Amazon.com will go mad if it maintains one system only for order processing and inventory management, then takes the entire data out of it, processes it again, and puts it into a pure accounting system. In smaller cases, it is very much possible - generate your bills from one system, and post the journal entries when you have the time. But every one wants to offer end-to-end solutions. Want inventory management? Sorry, you have to use our accounting system as well.
i think this never happens in the world of software...
Software features wise, it is a pointless race. The principle of - a thing is complete not when you cannot add anything to it, but when you cannot remove anything from it - needs to be followed. But who adheres to it? Gold plating and adding pointless features that no one is ever going to use is what most companies do.
you'd think that was a niche just waiting for some willing entrepreneur to get into.
Entrepreneurship is very difficult as it is. If you have to deal with people who are not tech savvy but still need to use software daily, you might go mad trying to solve their problems. On a serious note, companies do exist that cater to a niche clientèle. But that does not cover all sectors, yet. Maybe the lack of a viable market forces people to go the generic way.
I speak only regarding capturing data. Amazon.com will go mad if it maintains one system only for order processing and inventory management, then takes the entire data out of it, processes it again, and puts it into a pure accounting system. In smaller cases, it is very much possible - generate your bills from one system, and post the journal entries when you have the time. But every one wants to offer end-to-end solutions. Want inventory management? Sorry, you have to use our accounting system as well.
i think this never happens in the world of software...
Software features wise, it is a pointless race. The principle of - a thing is complete not when you cannot add anything to it, but when you cannot remove anything from it - needs to be followed. But who adheres to it? Gold plating and adding pointless features that no one is ever going to use is what most companies do.
you'd think that was a niche just waiting for some willing entrepreneur to get into.
Entrepreneurship is very difficult as it is. If you have to deal with people who are not tech savvy but still need to use software daily, you might go mad trying to solve their problems. On a serious note, companies do exist that cater to a niche clientèle. But that does not cover all sectors, yet. Maybe the lack of a viable market forces people to go the generic way.
I speak only regarding capturing data. Amazon.com will go mad if it maintains one system only for order processing and inventory management, then takes the entire data out of it, processes it again, and puts it into a pure accounting system.
I bet they have seperate systems if for anything to scale them up if required. Those databases are not walled gardens however, they have apps that access them and tie all the data in a way that makes sense.
But every one wants to offer end-to-end solutions. Want inventory management? Sorry, you have to use our accounting system as well.
i think thats the only way for them to sell, chances are you will require both.
But i think i understand what you are saying , you want to pick & choose best of breed and mix & match. That i suppose isn't possible yet.
Software features wise, it is a pointless race. The principle of - a thing is complete not when you cannot add anything to it, but when you cannot remove anything from it - needs to be followed. But who adheres to it? Gold plating and adding pointless features that no one is ever going to use is what most companies do.
i'm not sure companies could justify adding things for the sake of it, i'd like to think its customer driven to a large extent. They then pick what the majority wants and somehow tie that in with what they want to do.
I bet they have seperate systems if for anything to scale them up if required. Those databases are not walled gardens however, they have apps that access them and tie all the data in a way that makes sense.
But every one wants to offer end-to-end solutions. Want inventory management? Sorry, you have to use our accounting system as well.
i think thats the only way for them to sell, chances are you will require both.
But i think i understand what you are saying , you want to pick & choose best of breed and mix & match. That i suppose isn't possible yet.
Software features wise, it is a pointless race. The principle of - a thing is complete not when you cannot add anything to it, but when you cannot remove anything from it - needs to be followed. But who adheres to it? Gold plating and adding pointless features that no one is ever going to use is what most companies do.
i'm not sure companies could justify adding things for the sake of it, i'd like to think its customer driven to a large extent. They then pick what the majority wants and somehow tie that in with what they want to do.
gregory house
philosopher-in-chief
The point is this - accounting and inventory are two separate issues entirely. Invoices may deal with a hundred items and thousand discounts and taxes and what not. But accounting for a sales invoice is very simple - You sold something to someone and collected taxes from him? Ok. Then taxes go to a liability account coz I have to transfer it to to the government, sales are my revenue and the customer is my debtor. It does not concern itself with anything other than debit or credit.When the two are merged, everything becomes a mess. You have to set up the application to manage taxes, discounts, items, sales and purchase order processing and what not. And that is huge complication. Big companies employ some kind or ERP system with multiple modules. The system presents a different view from the same data depending on who is asking for the information. This is overkill for 99/100 people and frankly speaking, a technical nightmare both for the implementer as well as the user.Another thing is, I can't understand what people in the open source community are doing? On one end of the spectrum, you have TurboCash and GnuCash. And on the other end, you have erp systems. What happened to the middle layer - a modularised accounting and/ or inventory system that can run on the desktop?
