"For small businesses, the move to a free desktop is hampered by
the lack of viable accounting software. Whatever the benefits of
switching away from Windows, most businesses can't ignore the
convenience, management information, and reduced accountants' fees
they enjoy by using the likes of Sage or QuickBooks. While free
software fans are able to restrict their software choices in the
pursuit of ideological purity, the typical small business owner has
to be more pragmatic.
"Today there is at least one top-tier open source accounting
package. TurboCASH, from South Africa's Pink Software, claims
superior functionality to its closed source rivals, is licensed
under the GPL, and has a user base of more than 30,000. It even
integrates directly with the OSCommerce and Zen Cart ecommerce
applications. However, as a Windows-only application, it hasn't
solved the free software desktop problem for small business--until
now..."
