[Hidden-tech] Converting from PC to iMac

Robert Heller heller at deepsoft.com
Wed Dec 9 15:33:29 EST 2009


At Wed, 9 Dec 2009 14:35:10 EST SoundShifter at aol.com wrote:

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> Hello all,
>  
> I so appreciate the knowledge on this list-serve even though much of it is 
> out of my league.  I started my computer days on a Radio Shack dinosaur 
> using DOS commands -- could it really have had a total of only 28k?  Whatever it 
> was, it was laughable compared to what we use now.  After many years and 
> migrations thru the PC world, I am eager to switch to the new iMac.
>  
> My problem: I have years of bookkeeping on Quicken for PC and I am hearing 
> that the MAC version is terrible.  I am also hearing that the 2010 version 
> is supposed to work well or at least better.
>  
> What I'm considering doing:
> 1. Switch to the iMac but keep my PC till February when Quicken Mac 2010 is 
> supposed to be available.
> 2. Make the switch then and hope that it works without causing me days of 
> manual input or other headaches.
>  
> I'm wondering if anyone has knowledge about how well this might work and if 
> it makes sense to try a Mac accounting program and start from scratch 
> instead.  Or anything I haven't thought of that will spare me frustration and 
> wasted time.

Here is a third alternative:

Switch completely away from Quicken and go to GnuCash.  GnuCash is free,
open source and does double entry bookkeeping.  The only gotcha is you
will need to export your Quicken data into some format that GnuCash can
deal with.  I believe if you can export it to QIF, then GnuCash can
import it.

There is *lots* of talk about switching from Quicken to GnuCash on the
GnuCash users' mailing list: gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org and there is
a Wiki that tells how to install GnuCash on MacOSX.  Visit
www.gnucash.org for all of the information you could possibly want.
Warning: be sure to download and install the *stable* version of
GnuCash, which would be 2.2.<mumble> -- don't install the *unstable*
versions (2.3.<mumble>).

>  
> Thank you for your help.
>  
> Naaz
>  
> PS: I'm also considering using the Mac Suite instead of Mac Office.  Any 
> problem in doing that (when I have years of documents in MS Word) as long as I 
> convert files to doc or pdf before emailing as attachments?

I'd recommend NeoOffice (OpenOffice).  NeoOffice/OpenOffice has no
trouble opening MS-Word documents and writing either PDF or MS-Word
docs.  Oh NeoOffice/OpenOffice is also free and open source.

>  
> Naaz Hosseini, LP
> Psychotherapy & Voice Empowerment
> Faculty, Teachers College Columbia University &
> Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training
>  
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-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
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