[PLUG] Make some tax software...

[Michael Robinson]

Tax software that is good needs to ask intelligent questions and using
the answers to them fill out the appropriate forms.  To achieve that,
you need a programmer obviously to write the software and a certified
public accountant specializing in tax to come up with both the
questions, the calculations, and the proper forms.

What would be involved if hypothetically someone on this list started
a successful tax software company that focused on Linux as the platform?
What language would be most appropriate to write the tax software in?
What tool sets are most likely to be the same across all versions of
Linux that are out there in the wild?  I wonder what people who have 
a background in tax and/or writing financial software think.

There are a lot of choices as far as programming languages.  There is: 
C, C++, Perl, Python, Ruby on Rails, Cobol, Java, Lisp, etcetera.  The
list could probably be arbitrarily long and some languages probably
make sense where others don't.  Here are at least my thoughts on
a language making sense:

1)  It is relatively stable, the portions of the language I use today
    will be implemented equally across all Linux distributions and for
    some time out into the future.

2)  It is particularly well suited to database applications, after all
    a tax preparation program is a sort of database program.

3)  A language that allows easy access to external databases and 
    spreadsheets.  I don't know what the equivalent to Quicken is,
    but it would be nice to be able to import the ol checkbook, 
    etcetera.

Please feel free to discuss what it will take to make a Linux based tax
preparation package.  Hopefully, a lively discussion that brings out
some good ideas will inspire someone someday soon to address the
shortage of Linux based tax preparation software.