Re: Synching Pocket PC and M$ Money/Quicken

From: Rich Gibbs (rgibbs_at_REMOVEalumni.CAPSprinceton.edu)
Date: 01/31/05

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    Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 11:54:47 -0500

    Al said the following, on 01/30/05 07:31:
    > I just read an article in Business Week about Linux. It seems to have made
    > great progress on the server side. I am wonder what type of progress it
    > made on the desktop.
    >

    I think the progress on the desktop has been great, too. Our small firm
    does consulting work for small/medium organizations, and we have moved
    some of them to Linux on the desktop (as well as on the server), with
    good results. In general, I think that Linux on the desktop today can
    work just fine for most people. Of course there are always exceptions
    based on specific requirements.

    > Can the calendar, and contacts in a Pocket PC or Palm be synched to Linux's
    > Office Suite?
    >

    I know that a Palm device can be. KDE (one of the two "major" desktop
    environments for Linux with X) has an application called KPilot to sync
    with a Palm, which I use. There are a couple of other choices, I would
    be surprised if there are not similar applications for a Pocket PC device.

    > Is there a program like M$ Money or Quicken for Linux? I use M$ Money to
    > synch up my bank accounts at my bank. I had identify theft in 1999
    > therefore this program lets me closely track what is happening with my bank
    > accounts. I also use it to budget my Money. A program like M$ Money or
    > Quicken is more important to me than an Office Suite because of the identy
    > theft. Also are banks willing to let the Linux program interface with there
    > systems. The Linux program may have to mimic the protocols used by M$ Money
    > or Quicken.
    >

    There are several personal finance programs available for Linux. One of
    the better known is 'GNUCash':
          <http://www.gnucash.org/docs/v1.8/C/gnucash-guide/>
          <http://www.gnucash.org/>

    Paul Lutus has a personal finance application called PLCash, which is
    written in Java (and therefore usable on multiple platforms):
          <http://www.arachnoid.com/PLCash/index.html>

    There are also others; have a look through this project category at
    Freshmeat to get a start:
          <http://freshmeat.net/browse/76/>

    I know that GNUCash has an interface available for _some_ banking
    environments. Many of these programs can import/export data from the
    file formats used by Quicken. Obviously, what your bank uses will be a
    determining factor.

    (BTW: I'm very sorry to hear about your identity theft troubles. I
    helped a friend with getting through that about a year ago, and it is no
    fun at all.)

    >
    > What type of Office Suites are available for Linux?
    >

    The best known, and most full-featured office suite is OpenOffice, which
    includes word processor, spread***, presentation program, and all the
    usual suspects; it can also import/export MS Office files. (It's
    available for both Linux and Windows.) KDE also has an office package
    (KOffice). Two stand-alone programs are also worth mentioning: AbiWord,
    a word processor, and GNUmeric, a spread***, These are very capable,
    slightly less resource-intensive alternatives.

    HTH, Rich 

    -- 
Rich Gibbs
rgibbs@alumni.princeton.edu
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