Re:Ask HN: What FOSS do you wish existed that currently does...
by jqpabc123 on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @09:17AM
(#33162992)
Pick any specialized business app.
It doesn't really need to be all that specialized --- for example, US payroll. Every business with employees needs this. The few FOSS options that exist are mostly focused on countries outside the USA.
US payroll is complicated by the fact there are 50 different state tax authorities.
Re:Ask HN: What FOSS do you wish existed that currently does...
by smoldesu on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @01:55PM
(#33166558)
Those are services, not software. They might have software frontends (which could easily be replaced by FOSS), but their actual value proposition is the fact that they hire hundreds of people to do human-people-stuff.
Re:Ask HN: What FOSS do you wish existed that currently does...
by smoldesu on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @02:36PM
(#33167254)
Yes, and FOSS payroll software also exists. People don't use it because they'd rather pay for a service that offers support (another service) and absolves them of liability (another service).
Re:Ask HN: What FOSS do you wish existed that currently does...
by jqpabc123 on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @03:10PM
(#33167794)
I'm not asking for a repeat, I'm asking you to substantiate your claim that "FOSS payroll software also exists". There is next to nothing available and certainly nothing that I would classify as "adequate".
This is just one example --- specialized business software is almost non-existent in open source. And I see no reason to believe this will change any time soon.
It doesn't really need to be all that specialized --- for example, US payroll. Every business with employees needs this. The few FOSS options that exist are mostly focused on countries outside the USA.
US payroll is complicated by the fact there are 50 different state tax authorities.
Most US businesses do their payroll in-house --- using proprietary software --- mainly due to cost reasons.
Companies that outsource payroll to a service provider are actually a minority --- mostly larger businesses.
https://www.civica.com/en-us/insights/managed-payroll-or-in-...
This is just one example --- specialized business software is almost non-existent in open source. And I see no reason to believe this will change any time soon.