GNU/Linux: Virtualbox for solving a common small business problem.

We have all heard the GNU/Linux naysayers posit that, “No one will use Linux until (insert application name here) runs natively on Linux.” Other than the fact that this is almost pure hyperbole there is some kernel of truth there. This article demonstrates one solution.

Many small business owners may want to move to Linux for any number of reasons. A large number of them hold back because their business relies on Windows XP Pro or Vista Business to run QuickBooks with Payroll, which has no strong Linux equivalent. Sure, there are accounting applications with Payroll available for GNU/Linux but most accountants that support small businesses only know QuickBooks. To be able to use these accountants the small business owner must use QuickBooks. Running QuickBooks in WINE is not always the best answer as that has its own set of drawbacks.

Adding to this problem is many small businesses are very small businesses and may only need one computer for the entire business. This one computer must be used for web browsing and e-mail reading. Both of which are major inroads for malware on Microsoft systems. Yet the PC is also used for the accounting of the small business. Accounting data has a great deal of information that may be useful to criminals. However, malware is rife on Microsoft based systems making problematic any accounting data’s safety on a single multi-use Microsoft PC. What is the FOSS loving small business owner to do? Enter Virtualbox for GNU/Linux to the rescue.

I have just such a client that faced this same dilemma a couple of years ago when deciding to get a computer from my company for his small, family owned business. The fellow is a GNU/Linux user at his home but found that he needed to use QuickBooks at the business so his long-time accountant could “do her thing” as she is one of the QuickBooks accountants I mention above. This computer at the business also had to handle e-mail and web browsing safely. This gentleman did not want to risk his accounting data on a Microsoft based PC that was multi-tasked with e-mail and web browsing. Yet he had to have all of those on his one office computer.

I sat down with him and went over his options. After talking it over for a few days he decided to go with a new computer preloaded with the Mandriva Linux distribution like he used at home. Why? Because I had explained to him we could solve his problem by running a real Microsoft OS in a virtual machine on Linux. At the time all I knew how to use was VMware. So, I set him up with VMware on his new GNU/Linux system and he bought a Microsoft OEM CD and license for XP Professional to install in the virtual machine. I installed and set up the XP Professional in the VM and got his QuickBooks set up to save backups to a shared directory on his office system that would be transfered via rsync to his home GNU/Linux system for a daily backup of his important accounting data. He could web browse and e-mail to his heart’s content on his GNU/Linux desktop without fear of infecting his XP Professional that was running his QuickBooks in a virtual machine in a window on his desktop. Printing was (and is) handled by a Samsung small business network laser printer that works with both GNU/Linux and Microsoft systems.

This worked great until the first time I ran an update for him where Mandriva update installed a new kernel. After the reboot … bye bye virtual machine. I had to reinstall VMware and ran into a problem with the kernel headers that I had to fix by hand. This was not good. I was able to get him working again but it took more time and cost him more in support fees than it should have. I began to look for an alternative to VMware and found Virtualbox.

I discovered that Virtualbox is open source and can be distributed with GNU/Linux as opposed to VMware which is not open source and cannot be so distributed. We had a planned upgrade to upgrade his GNU/Linux to Mandriva 2009.1 this past Spring. This was the time designated to switch his virtual machine tasks to Virtualbox. Of course there is no easy way to migrate a VMware setup to Virtualbox. Following the upgrade of Mandriva I did a fresh install of his XP Professional in Virtualbox, reinstalled his QuickBooks and recovered his accounting data from the latest backup file on the shared directory. This has been working well ever since.

So, if you are a FOSS loving small business owner that must have QuickBooks for your accountant, check out GNU/Linux with Virtualbox running a real Microsoft OS. While this is not getting completely away from Microsoft, which may be your goal, it is a step in the right direction. In the future maybe Intuit will see the light and develop QuickBooks for the GNU/Linux desktop as well. Or maybe accountants will learn to use FOSS accounting software and save Intuit the trouble of having to make QuickBooks on GNU/Linux for everyone to buy.

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