Re: A Customer's Request For Open Source Software

["Robert I. Eachus" <rieachus@attbi.com>]

Stephane Richard wrote:
 > But like you say, no matter what, the back end should definitaly be
 > done in Ada...:-)....no two ways about that

I strongly believe in using the right tool for the job.  For a lot of an
accounting system, that seems to be databases or spreadsheets.  But not 
necessarily.

Let's imagine creating a double-entry bookkeeping system in Ada.  You 
would have a generic that you instantiated to create a journal, and all 
the underlying complexity of transactions, journalling, and backup would 
be hidden from view.

Now you could implement the interface as a binding to say ODBC, but 
let's go a bit further.  If the system were to have guarenteed restore 
properties, the actual operation could be all done in memory.  (Say 
journalling and periodic backup to hard-disk, possibly on two physically 
separate disks.)

Now for 90+% of the actual use, the file system is not involved. 
(Completing a transaction forces a journal write.)  But let's go a bit 
further, the journalling can be to NVRAM, for example a Compact Flash 
card.  The effort to memory map such a card would not be too great, and 
now we have an accounting system that is hard-disk (and file-system) 
free in operation.

Why do that?  Because in the next few years, NVRAM is going to replace 
DRAM.  I can't tell you WHICH variety of NVRAM, AMD has a very nice 
polymer memory developed with Coatue, which AMD just bought. Motorola, 
IBM and others are working on MRAM.  Molecular electronic memory is 
unlikely to be the first to market, but may eventually be the winning 
entry in the race.

So an open source accounting system that gets away from dependencies on 
file systems and DBMSs will be very attractive down the road.  How to 
make money on the idea?  My leaning would be fairly simple.  Have a 
loosely organized group of developers and maintainers who retain certain 
rights.  (To sell the software or modified versions thereof, but free 
distribution and use would be permitted.)  This group could sell "shrink 
wrapped versions of the software, but I see that as only an alternative 
to selling books to users (with CD-ROMs in the back)  The group could 
also sell support both by individuals and through the group.

I've probably said enough for now...

--
                                                    Robert I. Eachus

"As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure." -- Jacques Chirac,
President of France
"As far as France is concerned, you're right." -- Rush Limbaugh