Asking here instead of a more nerdy community as MYOB is pretty much only used in Australia by the looks.
We’ve run MYOB for the better part of 20 years and it suits our needs perfectly, with one exception - it doesn’t support Linux, and with Windows getting more obnoxious every update I would prefer to swap to Linux full time.
Has anyone locally either got it working properly under Linux (using a VM maybe, like VB headless?), or found an alternative that does work under Linux?
Don’t really want something web based like Xero (not to mention Xero is missing way too many features we use a lot anyway) though being AccountRight we’re hosting the data file remotely anyway.
Looking at the wiki, it seems MYOB is an accounting and taxing suite? I know this is dumb, have you tried looking at this list from the AlternativeTo website?
You’ll just have to filter for Linux here.
The critical feature of MYOB (and Xero), that’s largely missing in other options, is integration with the Australian Taxation Office.
You can easily enter all your business activities, then when it’s tax time double check all your data and simply click a button to file it with the government.
Aside from those two, the only options I know of are a lot more expensive and intended for use by full time accountants (employees or external contractors). MYOB doesn’t work on Linux and Xero, which is web based, is sadly lacking features. MYOB also has a web based version but as far as I know it’s even more basic than Xero.
What software does the ATO have for their recommended list?
I don’t think the ATO has such a list. They do maintain a list of payroll software but it’s ridiculously long (MYOB alone has dozens of entries) and I suspect it’s not a complete either.
https://softwaredevelopers.ato.gov.au/product-register
They don’t list wether any of it runs on linux, or which ones even work at all… and in particular if you have employees then you need to be careful as calculating the wrong amount of pay (or superannuation) could be classified as wage theft, and you can go to jail for that.
If you’re just doing your own tax, then it’s a lot easier and the penalty for an honest mistake is reasonable (often no penalty at all…). You could just do it all on paper without any issues, or an openoffice spreadsheet, or free/open source software like ledger-cli.org.
Outside of running in a VM, I don;t like your chances.
I found no indication that it can be done, there were a few references from 15+ years ago using WINE but even then there was no way to print anything.
You pretty much have to run MYOB in a VM, or possibly via WINE. I keep an older windows laptop around at work for MYOB duties. As far as I know there are no alternatives that have anything near the feature set, or the integration with the ATO and other services that MYOB offers.
These days with it all being cloud based there is some web browser based functionality but in it’s current state it is much more limited than it should be.
Yeah, my previous experience with MYOB under WINE and VirtualBox was subpar. It was a long time ago though so might be worth another go.
As you’ve obviously experienced the web version is pretty well useless unforuntately. I actually ran MYOB on Windows Server back in the day, and used remote desktop from whatever Linux PC or laptop I was using at the time. Then it stopped working with Windows Server so there went that loophole. Also I was using an out of date version of Windows Server just to maintain MYOB functionality which in hindsight seems like a bit of a silly sausage thing to do.
Try
virt-manager/libvirt. Its strength is hardware passthrough but it’s a good general purpose VM as well since it’s better integrated with the mainline kernel (unlike virtualbox).Then it stopped working with Windows Server so there went that loophole
It’s annoying when software compat breaks.
Why do you need windows server for this? RDP works on desktop windows, just with the limitation of “1 seat”.
Also I was using an out of date version of Windows Server just to maintain MYOB functionality which in hindsight seems like a bit of a silly sausage thing to do.
Normally I’d say that’s perfectly fine, just keep it isolated. Sadly that’s not how you would use MYOB: you need to have bank statements open (in a web browser) and documents from various people in your company (in an office suite), not to mention ways of getting those documents (network shares or worse).
There are some virtualisation solutions that make the windows of apps in the guest appear as (individual) windows of apps in your host. It’s been a while since I’ve read into it, but it will probably be much more convenient than the traditional VM-in-one-window approach. Especially when juggling multiple things.
You can run MYOB in the cloud, you don’t need to run a desktop installation. Alternatively look at Zero which also ruins in the cloud.
MYOB’s cloud offerings are laughably featureless compared to the desktop client unfortunately. You can host the data file in the cloud no problem (as we do), but the web client is terrible.
