[PLUG] A challenge...

[Michael Robinson]

On Thu, 2009-04-16 at 09:45 -0700, Galen Seitz wrote:
> Michael wrote:
> > Galen Seitz wrote:
> >> IIF you have Flash installed.  Last year it wasn't needed.  This
> >> year's gratuitous Turbotax change was to require Flash.  $#%@#%$!!!!!
> >>   If I didn't have such a long history with Turbotax, I'd evaluate
> >> other vendors.
> > 
> > And what does that long history do for you?
> 
> My sister used to work for Chipsoft, the company that originally 
> developed Turbotax.  She then worked for Intuit after they bought 
> Chipsoft.  She uses the pro series product, so I always send her my 
> tax file so she can review it for errors.  I've used Turbotax since 
> TY1990.  I've run it under dos, dosemu, W95, possibly wine, os 9, 
> possibly os X, and finally the online version.  Ignoring the flash 
> issue, the online edition has certainly simplified things.  No more 
> lengthy downloads and updates, no more messing with emulation, and 
> importing the previous year's data is easy.  That said, it's still one 
> of those love/hate relationships.
> 
Can your sister reveal anything about how TurboTax was programmed 
when she worked at Chipsoft?  What language was it based on?  Could 
she be part of a project to replace it with a Linux friendly version?
If we can get some people together and possibly hook up with
sourceforge, maybe by next year there can be an alternative to
TurboTax.