[ubuntu-za] Accounting Development

On Sat 2005-10-29 (09:27), Philip Copeman wrote:
> Hi Its Philip Copeman here . I am the leader of the TurboCASH Accounting 
> project. We are the worlds leading OS package for small business 
> accounting ( 150 000 sourceforge downloads). We are 99.8% Windows. We 
> are so far up their ass you have to have to light a match to see whats 
> going on!
> 
> We are in a market against some of the most vicious people in the 
> software business. If you think the Microsoft monopoly is interesting 
> you are going to love the Accounting business, which is two major 
> players each effectively monopolists in their own territories. In the 
> area where we play, there is only Intuit (Quickbooks) and SAGE 
> (Peachtree, Simply, Pastel). There are are many other niche players, but 
> very few mainstream players.
> 
> We are interested in a JV with a Linux group to develop TurboCASH for 
> Linux. I do not want to "Port" the TurboCASH code, but rather want to re 
> engineer it in a Linux Environment. There are a number of "Cross 
> platform" and "thin Client" Accounting solutions. These all fall far 
> short of our expectations for a user friendly product aimed at entry 
> level users, users who are non technical and require lightening fast 
> response time for rapid transaction entry. So we want to develop a FAT 
> Client for Linux. We have no prejudice to Development environment, we 
> would want to develop this in the best Linux environment possible. 
> Currently we are leaning towards a solution based on Lazarus/Firebird, 
> but we would consider alternatives.
> 
> OH yes - we have absolutely no Linux Skills. I can install Unbuntu and 
> play asteroids on it. I also like the Tetris like game, but thats about 
> as far as I have gone. We do however have a well defined spec that has 
> stood the test of 3 generations of Windows development and that is 
> currently being deployed  in hundreds of new sites every day in many 
> different accounting markets.
> 
> So I am not looking for someone to say "hey Python is great  - go here 
> to download Postgress" I am looking for partners who understand that he 
> reason there is no decent low end accounting package for Linux is that 
> it is a huge job that will require enormous commitment from both of us. 
> If we find the right partners, I will sort out the financing.
> 
> Anyone interested?

Is there a particular reason you want a JV and not to hire people
directly?  Finding a group of developers who know Linux development who
are part of an existing company that does software development and has
the spare capacity to do this JV is a long shot.  Finding a group of
developers separately who want to work on Linux software development
sounds a lot easier.

Obviously it's a bit more risky and getting rid of people is relatively
hard, but now's not the time to get timid and expect failure.

Neil
-- 
Neil Blakey-Milner
nbm at mithrandr.moria.org
http://mithrandr.moria.org/