On Sunday 04 January 2004 12:57 pm, Fred Miller wrote:
Yes - I know some software will install, but important software like TurBoTax won't. This is a real problem for Linux to take over the desktop, because to date NO company has ported tax packages, and none can be loaded with Wine. Tax prep. software MUST be available for Linux or Linux will be limited on the desktop.
I use Win4Lin (from netraverse.com) to run TurboTax. It does require having a copy of Windows, but Windows 98 or even 95 will do just fine. The interface is very nice -- the Windows screen appears as just another Linux app, and under KDE I simply put it on one of my several desktops. Switching in and out of Windows is instantaneous. TurboTax is a particularly critical case because there will never be a Gnu version of it. No individual or group in the Gnu community would ever commit to updating the program annually in a major way to account for changes in the tax laws. Now if someone would bribe Intuit to come out with a Linux version ... I also wonder if any other tax programs such as TaxCut (from H&R Block) will run under Wine. Paul Abrahams