Intuit Releases QuickBooks for Linux Servers

June 14, 2007: Intuit has just announced that QuckBooks Enterprise, its SMB accounting package, now runs on Linux as well as Windows servers.

This is the first time Intuit has offered one of its products on Linux, and while the software still requires Windows on the desktop, offering a Linux server flavour is the first step in a wider compatibility drive that shows just how much the open source operating system’s popularity is growing.

Intuit says the decision to extend the QuckBooks beyond Windows was made at the QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions User Conference, and that the move will enable companies that are passionate about using open source to take advantage of its mid-market system while maintaining the increased security, manageability and lower total cost of ownership of Linux.

“IT professionals are an integral part of a mid-market business’ success and have shown real enthusiasm for working with the Linux platform,” said Angus Thomson, vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Mid-Market Group. “This is a natural progression for QuickBooks Enterprise and a significant step forward for Intuit in serving growing and more complex businesses’ evolving needs.”

The company claims that until now, businesses running QuickBooks Enterprise over server-based local area networks had to store the system’s database on a Windows server, even if their other applications were running on Linux. Using its free Linux Database Server Manager application though, QuickBooks Enterprise can now reside on the same Linux server as other applications.

QuickBooks Enterprise is powered by an underlying Sybase iAnywhere SQL database, and can support five, 10, 15 and 20 concurrent users. The Linux Database Server Manager is free and will be available for download on June 25 via the in-product update tool.

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