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The Almighty Buck Software

Financial Services Software for Linux? 57

Posted by Cliff from the money-and-penguins dept.
Shakrai asks: "I find myself in the process of building a new computer system and at a crossroads for what OS to put on it. I have used Linux for years as a server for my home network and as a workstation dual booting with Windows. I have find myself unable to get away from Windows entirely because of the large amount of older games that I retain and still like to play. Nevertheless I am less then eager to pony up $80-$200 for a Windows license for my new box and I figure that I can learn to live without most of the Windows games that I enjoy. There still seems to be one stumbling block before I could totally abandon Windows though: Financial Services Software. For the last six years I have been quite the avid user of Quicken. Every single investment and transaction that I have ever made resides in Quicken. Is there a package for Linux out there that even remotely provides the same functionality?"
"I don't really use Quicken's online services (why pay for something my credit union gives me for free) but I pretty much use every other function of the product (tax estimation, investment tracking, reports, etc). Is this going to keep me stuck in Windows land? Short of writing my own replacement for Quicken (not very likely) what are my options?"
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Financial Services Software for Linux? More

Financial Services Software for Linux?

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  • GNUcash, Kapital (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Orrin Bloquy ( 898571 )
    are the first that come to mind.

  • Don't use qhacc (Score:3, Informative)

    by x00101010x ( 631764 ) on Monday September 19, 2005 @07:24PM (#13599867) Homepage
    I've been using qhacc for a while, and it's a cute hack, but not really useful. I'm just using it until I find something better. There's a few java ones that look promising, but I'm not a fan of java software. Getting lucky with google for "accounting linux" turned this up: http://www.aaxnet.com/design/linuxacct.html [aaxnet.com] There's also the popular GnuCash (http://www.gnucash.org/ [gnucash.org]).

  • One thing to consider... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by chriso11 ( 254041 ) on Monday September 19, 2005 @07:24PM (#13599868) Journal
    If you actually don't like the alternative, and decide to go back to Quicken, then you get to re-enter all the data.

    I had thought Wine was pretty far along on supporting Quicken. If you already paid for the Quicken License, are pretty much happy with it, and WINE supports it, why bother switching?

    • If you actually don't like the alternative, and decide to go back to Quicken, then you get to re-enter all the data.

      I'd have to run them in parallel for awhile until I was happy with the Linux replacement or decided to keep Quicken. I did this when I test-drove Microsoft Money for a few weeks -- kept updating my Quicken file alongside the Money one. I eventually gave up on Money though -- nicer interface but it wasn't as powerful.

      I had thought Wine was pretty far along on supporting Quicken. If you a

      • I eventually gave up on Money though -- nicer interface but it wasn't as powerful.

        I've tried them both. I currently use Quicken as I'm on a Mac (where they have a monopoly, I don't know WHY MS doesn't release Money for the Mac). I like Quicken better, as it seems to do what I want it to more (as opposed to doing things that I DON'T want for me, or trying to be a major financial center when I just want to track my checkbook). That said, Money's interface (the entering checks like checks) parts is MUCH nicer

        • That said, Money's interface (the entering checks like checks) parts is MUCH nicer than Quicken's ledger.

          And the graphs and cash flow charts look a lot more polished too. What irks me about Money is how really basic stuff seems to be missing or not done correctly.

          As an example, Quicken has known about my Flex Reimbursement Account for years. It properly deducts it from my tax projections (Flex Reimbursement Accounts are tax free) whereas all I can do with it in Money is setup a cash account and take t

        • GnuCash supports OSX. Installation is a slight pain, but it is what we're using. YMMV, of course.

  • For the last six years I have been quite the avid user of Quicken. Every single investment and transaction that I have ever made resides in Quicken.
    Quicken doesn't have any features you couldn't get from a spreadsheet program. It just packages them in a more user-friendly manner.
    • You imply that that's somehow a negative. But by that logic, every program is worthless, because they're all just more user-friendly alternatives to typing in machine code by hand.
      • I implied no such thing. I've used Quicken myself. My only point was that a spreadsheet is a reasonable alternative if you're on a platform where Quicken -- or a similar tool -- isn't available.
    • So? I saw a website where a guy made Pac-Man run in Excel.
      • That guy must have done a lot of fancy VBA coding, and be pretty good at it. By contrast, the macros you needs to implement a checkbook in Excel are pretty minor, and within reach of a novice.

    • Re:Tied to Quicken (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      A spreadsheet program doesn't have any features you couldn't get from a Turing machine. It just packages them in a more user-friendly manner.

    • Quicken doesn't have any features you couldn't get from a spreadsheet program. It just packages them in a more user-friendly manner.
      User-friendliness isn't a feature? Hmmm...

      Parent poster is... (choose one)

      o a power-CLI user.
      o a fan of Microsoft Products
      o correct
      o +1 Funny
      o using Cowboy Neal's text-editor, notepad.exe, for financial tasks
      o other, explain below...
      • Sure, user-friendliness is a feature. But when all you doing is maintaining a list of financial transactions, it's not a big feature.
        • Obviously you haven't used quicken lately. The *FREE* online stuff automatically downloads your stock prices, your bank transactions for reconciling, etc. There's a bit more to it than simple spreadsheeting.
          • obviously you haven't used quicken lately.. you can scrape all the stuff off the internet in a similar fashion..
            (a royal bitch to set up- and it's all trash if your bank changes it's layout)
            • please substitue "excel" where it now says "quicken"
            • you can scrape all the stuff off the internet in a similar fashion.. (a royal bitch to set up- and it's all trash if your bank changes it's layout)

              And which part of "automatically" and "more than simple spreadsheeting" are you claiming that this contradicts? I have no time or interest in writing and maintaining custom scraper code when I can buy a new version of quicken every 4 years that does just fine for me. No, I don't see the need to buy it every year like they'd want me to, but it's easily worth $1

        • Sure, user-friendliness is a feature. But when all you doing is maintaining a list of financial transactions, it's not a big feature.

          ...let me guess what your finances consist of: A checking account to which your paycheck gets directly deposited, a savings account, and maybe a credit card. If you are an American, the tax form you file is the one page 1040EZ. Sure, a spreadsheet will work in simple situations, but if you have multiple investments, own a home, have kids, etc it gets complicated
          • And I'll tell you one feature your spreadsheet is never going to have: a button that syncs your data with your bank, your investment firms, credit cards, etc.
            Well, never say never -- I'm sure I could program an Excel or OO plugin to do that. But basically, you're right: that's a complex feature that's well worth buying software for. So I withdraw the "user friendly" assertion.

    • Quicken doesn't have any features you couldn't get from a spreadsheet program. It just packages them in a more user-friendly manner.

      Actually I had considered this. Replacing my finances with a series spreadsheets in Calc. Given enough time I'm sure I could duplicate pretty much all of the Quicken functionality that I need (although stuff that updates often like tax tables or stock quotes would be a PITA).

      But why go to all that trouble when software already (or should) exist for this problem?

      • True -- reinventing pre-invented wheels is usually a waste of time.

        On the other hand, if you want tax tables and stock quotes, and don't want to be dependent on Quicken for them, you do need to get more flexible. That means using a more open-ended solution, where you or some other open-source person can hack in new data sources.

        If you want a big, fancy pre-packaged financial management system, with pain-free data updates, you're not going to find one that runs natively on Linux. (Though it might well ru

        • Or use a Web-based brokerage service that might export into .CSV and then reverse-engineer their formatting for your own spreadsheet-y delight.

      • Re:Tied to Quicken (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Given enough time I'm sure I could duplicate pretty much all of the Quicken functionality that I need (although stuff that updates often like tax tables or stock quotes would be a PITA).

        Tax tables don't update all that often. I'm assuming you just want an estimate, you're not going to get something very accurate unless you know a lot about the tax code in the first place. Quicken's tax estimation features work well if you've got everything coded up perfectly, but if not then it's garbage in-garbage out

  • Review at LWN (Score:4, Interesting)

    by greppling ( 601175 ) on Monday September 19, 2005 @07:32PM (#13599933)
    LWN (Linux Weekly News) has just done a review of personal finance managers for Linux: http://lwn.net/Articles/149383/ [lwn.net] (It will become freely available this thursday.)

    The main alternatives are GnuCash and KMyMoney.

  • Threadjack. :) (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by Blakey Rat ( 99501 )
    I'm looking for an equilivant to Microsoft Project I can run in OS X. Does anybody know of anything like that?

  • Get a Mac (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Monday September 19, 2005 @07:43PM (#13600011) Homepage
    Get a Mac.

    Not what you were looking for, but consider it. You can run open source software on it, you can even run Linux on it. Most of the big games get ported eventually. Best of all, it has Quicken (which I use myself) and other big name software (including an excellent version of Office). You won't have to re-enter all your data (as another poster talked about), you can just import it.

    Seriously, give it a try for a while. It's too bad Apple removed that 30 day free trial of a Mac Mini.

    Not willing to go Mac? Can you run Quicken (maybe an older version) well in Wine? What about running VMWare or Bochs and running it inside Windows in there? You don't need the performance so it should be quite useable.

    • Re:Get a Mac (Score:3, Funny)

      by Shakrai ( 717556 ) *

      Not what you were looking for, but consider it. You can run open source software on it, you can even run Linux on it.

      So I can replace an expensive Windows license and Microsoft DRM on cheap hardware with expensive Apple branded hardware and iTunes DRM?

      Sorry. That's not an option for me.

  • Has much changed since this ...

    http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/17/22 48214&tid=4&tid=106 [slashdot.org]

    Funny what gets through - yes, I do search /. before asking my question! Sorry in a bitchy mood today, sun is shining and I'm stuck inside.
    • Has much changed since this ...

      http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/17/22 48214&tid=4&tid=106 [slashdot.org]

      Funny what gets through - yes, I do search /. before asking my question! Sorry in a bitchy mood today, sun is shining and I'm stuck inside.

      ...in case you didn't look, the date of that article is May 19th, 2002 - 3 years, 4 months ago. Yes, a lot has changed since then. In that time, the major player in the Linux financial software market - gnucash - has released 24 new versions. In addit
  • what about open office?
    http://download.openoffice.org/index.html [openoffice.org]

  • LWN Article, Wait a Week to Read (Score:4, Informative)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Monday September 19, 2005 @09:14PM (#13600616) Homepage
    Linux Weekly News (an excellent place, you should support them) just did part one of The Grumpy Editor's Guide to Personal Finance Managers [lwn.net]. I don't think it is available to non-subscribers yet, but it should be on Thursday then you can take a look at it. It gives an overview of all the current offerings and setting them up and such. I'll put up the last paragraph here because it has a simple sum-up and tells you what's coming in part two:

    Your editor's final comment is this: for many years, there was only one free personal finance application of any note: GnuCash. It is now interesting to see there are three viable programs out there. The situation has changed significantly - for the better - over the past year. Come back for the second part (to be published, probably, near the beginning of October) to complete the tour of what these programs can do, and a final recommendation from the editor.

    You're question is quite timely, actually.

  • http://gnucash.org/en/screenshots.phtml [gnucash.org]

    I have been using it for years. You can import most of your data from quicken. I'd recommend keeping both running while you try it because though you can export and get a convertor to convert your data back to QIF, you will lose some stuff. The interface is nowhere near as polished but it works. It has quite a few of the features the Quicken has. It can download stock prices, make reports, etc. The graphics are a little light.

    Quicken to GNUcash was the last thing
    • sorry, but there is no way I would trust linux tax software unless it was written by a company like Quicken.

      Heh, that reminds me: I was at a Perl user's group meeting a few years back and that night 4 people presented projects they were working on. These two guys, I swear they reminded me of Zed and the other guy, the shop keeper, from Pulp Fiction, these guys were not your typical geeks. Anyway, they demostrated this 1040 tax form program they'd written in Perl. It was all broken, had about 1/20th of

    • sorry, but there is no way I would trust linux tax software unless it was written by a company like Quicken.

      Taxes for most people are pretty simple & something like open tax solver would work (albeit not in a user-friendly way). People do taxes with pencil and paper, so programs don't have to be that complicated.

      That said, I suggest everyone file taxes online. You get it done quicker & it is cheaper than paper. The IRS maintains a "freefile" page where they ask you questions & are usually abl

      • First, H&R Block == some joker running H&R Block's version of TurboTax for you. I went there once, it was a joke.

        Second, TurboTax takes all the guesswork out of things. Every year I fill out a tax form by hand (and I still do for an LLC that I really should dissolve), I am never quite sure if I did everything right.

        Third, TurboTax is up to date with all the latest tax laws including deductions that you might not know about. For example, last year and this year states with sales tax allowed you to

        • These

          webapps are done by Intuit, H&R Block, etc.

          First, H&R Block == some joker running H&R Block's version of TurboTax for you.

          In this case, the joker would be you. I encouraged the use of online tax software.

          Second, TurboTax takes all the guesswork out of things....Third, TurboTax is up to date with all the latest tax laws including deductions that you might not know about....Am I subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax? Hell if I know, but TurboTax tells me with the press of a button.

          As wo

    • I've been using TurboTax over the web for years, works great with Firefox under linux. Why isn't this an alternative?

    • Hell, I'd have a windows box around forever if TurboTax never ports to linux. And every year, when I fill out my taxes, I go to their website, find their comment form and send them the following message: "Please make a linux version of Quicken and TurboTax. I'd buy it." I have sent that message for about 5 years. At one point I found a web page saying something like "we are evaluting the need for Quicken under linux" but I that was several years ago. And doesn't Microsoft own Intuit anyway?

      They tried to

  • qemu (Score:1)

    by cnj5 ( 645076 )
    http://qemu.net/ [qemu.net]
    A friend never upgraded from quicken 4. She had tried GNUcash and Kapital but was too used to her quicken. She tried it with wine but quicken crashed too much. She now runs it on linux with qemu. Basically a cd size hd image with just win98 and quicken 4 installed.
    Another friend uses an old version of sage in qemu (qemux) on an ibook. Yes it is slow but way faster than his old laptop.
  • I Too, find myself in the process of building a new computer system.

    Congratulations!

  • Free and Open Source Financial Applications FAQ (Score:3, Informative)

    by Noksagt ( 69097 ) on Tuesday September 20, 2005 @03:54AM (#13602209) Homepage
    I maintain a FAQ [fatwallet.com] on Fatwallet of the free/open source finance applications. Particularly useful are the links there.

    I'm a GnuCash zealot. I love that I can setup a cron script to download data on market close. I keep a couple dozen accounts in it with no worries. I would never go back to Quicken or Money.

    If you don't dig the F/OSS thing, there are commercial apps for Linux or you can get both Quicken & Money to work OK in Crossover Office. Anotheer alternative is to do all of this online with a service like yodlee.

  • WINE (Score:2)

    by dmayle ( 200765 ) *

    WINE

    No, seriously, check it out. With Wine Tools [von-thadden.de] to automate the install of basic components (like DCOM98 and Visual C++ redistributable), you can use most of your windows programs on linux. According to Wine Application DB [winehq.org], many version of quicken work just fine under wine.

    Heck, I've even gotten a full Visual Studio 6 install going under wine...

  • Short of writing my own replacement for Quicken (not very likely) what are my options?

    Personally I use a hacked up version of SQL-Ledger [sql-ledger.org]. But personally I think Quicken is a piece of shit, and that GNUCash is a poor copy of it. SQL-Ledger isn't great either, but you have easy access to the raw ledger, and can program the other stuff you need on top of that.

    For your purposes, it seems like you just want the cheapest thing that can perform at the level of Quicken, so I'd say try out GNUCash and see if t

    • and your old copy of Windows (I don't understand where the $80-200 comes into play, as you already have a copy of Windows on your old system).

      It's a 32 bit copy of XP Pro and I'm building an AMD64 system. I think I missed the boat on Microsoft's free upgrade plan by a couple of weeks and in any case I wouldn't have wanted to ditch the license from my old box. I might have the desire to pull it out of the closet once in awhile and play some old games.

      • It's a 32 bit copy of XP Pro and I'm building an AMD64 system.

        I'd think Bochs would have no problem handling this. It'd be a little slow maybe, but fast enough to run Quicken.

        in any case I wouldn't have wanted to ditch the license from my old box. I might have the desire to pull it out of the closet once in awhile and play some old games.

        Not sure what you mean by this. Are you saying if you install Windows on the second box and then pull the old box out of the closet that Microsoft is going to sen

  • Let me suggest: (Score:2, Informative)

    by cavemanf16 ( 303184 )
    I have tried numerous programs on Linux to manage my finances, and like you used to use Quicken on Windows.

    When I tried to switch over to Linux as my primary desktop, I found that there are options out there, but they're just not as polished *looking* as Quicken is for the average finance/budget tracking user like myself. So, let me offer up what I've tried, and you can figure something out for yourself:

    • jGnash [sourceforge.net] - A weird name for a finance program, but I used it for a short time and it did an alright j
  • I'm also looking to buy a new notebook computer, but I dont want to pay for Windows, prefering to run Linux on it with Wine for my windows apps.

    I have heard some people have managed to get refunds for the Windows they arent going to use. Anybody got recomendations on how to do this?
  • Crossover Office runs Quicken well. I run Quicken Basic 2003 and it does everything I ask of it. I purchased Quicken 2006 but haven't tried it yet under Crossover Office.
  • Less than eager.

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