04-07-2006, 12:09 PM

I am starting up a publishing company this year. Originally I was going to have two Windows-based computers to handle ordering, with a seperate server for handling the website and online transactions. The server is Linux-based and is fine, but I'd like to switch the two ordering machines to Macs instead. So, I am looking for (1) good financial software and (2) a customer/ordering system/database. QuickBooks for Mac looks okay, but I've heard strange things about accounting software on OS X. As for the customer system, I need something to track orders, shipments, customers, etc. Your basic CRM database, essentially. I'd much prefer having a couple of Intel Minis running OS X than a couple of Dells running XP for my business stuff. Any suggestions and discussion would be appreciated!

04-07-2006, 05:45 PM

I'm not sure whether you've heard about this or not, but if you buy one of the new Intel Macs and download Boot Camp from the Apple web site, you can install and run Window$ XPee (sorry, "Windows XP") on your Mac. This means that even if you can't find the ultimate Mac program for your needs you could still run those needed Window$ applications not made specifically for Mac on an Intel Mac anyhow. And apparently Boot Camp is not some sluggish virtual emulator like VirtualPC, so I would hope that the Window$ applications would work fine on the Mac.

Personally, I'm not too excited about suggesting the running of Window$ on ANYONE'S computer (a problem waiting to happen, IMO), but perhaps this is one solution to consider.

04-07-2006, 08:24 PM

Do a search on VersionTracker for "CRM" and you'll turn up a crapload of offerings. Or you could roll your own using a FileMaker or 4D database.

It seems MYOB is held in slightly better regard than QuickBooks, but that's not saying much. It also has some CRM functionality :mac: