A new RANT - They are going to get rid of William

[joanmcq]

Yow! you are fast if you have a program running already. I can't imagine writing a tax program in a couple of weeks. Of course I can't imagine writing any kind of program in any amount of time....

But just ask me a couple of tax questions! Yeah, I got some uses!

[kcjenkins]

Well, the first year I will buy both your program and ATX or some other program, so that I can learn yours and offer what help I can as a tester, etc. I'm really serious about it, as I think are quite a few others. Keep us posted, and of course, feel free to ask if we can do anything along the way. We are rooting for you, Mel.

[joelgilb]

Nope, NOT a part owner... I left ATX 9 years ago Booger, but I WAS there when it was a card table in the living room at the very beginning.

Want an explaination of why I am in Hawaii... I married a girl from Hawaii and she couldn't handle the cold weather of Maine, so I left ATX and came here trying not to have my family split up. But now I am here because my kids were born here. I certainly don't have $$$$$ to throw around, that's for sure. After going through having your disabled wife attempt suicide multiple times, a divorce and trying to be a parent by yourself doesn't leave much room to be rich.

As far as a beta test, I have a program running... BUT it's severely lacking. It puts a form on the screen, calculates, saves/loads and prints... BUT there is a long way to go. I need to build a depreciation module, forms dependancy, efiling module, tons of forms, come back to you guys for suggested 'must have' features. When I am ready, I will have a board just like this one except closed for people to download and try from, but it takes a while when you are doing most everything yourself. Trying to decide on what is the minimum features that it must have that first year is hard as I would love to have it all, but it's just not going to be feasable. Things like W2/1099 stuff just won't make it that first year for sure. I also don't want people testing too early as I will spend all my time chasing bug reports that will likely be straightened out long before I get it ready for real.

Mel:

Nice to see that you are attempting to create a replacement to ATX. Was wondering if it it would be created in a similar fashion with Excel, Visual Basic and Access? Also (putting in my request here), are you looking to add the customization that ATX has now? Where we can open a form and change it. It is a feature that is very useful (and I don't change the look of forms to make sure it meets IRS standards). Also, I have long asked ATX to provide the ability to do more than create a simple crosslink and actually allow us to create a formula link between forms like the developers do now.

Well, I understand that to get something as complete as ATX in the first year is a big job, so good luck with the project.

(QUOTE:kcjenkins) "Well, the first year I will buy both your program and ATX or some other program, so that I can learn yours and offer what help I can as a tester, etc. I'm really serious about it, as I think are quite a few others. Keep us posted, and of course, feel free to ask if we can do anything along the way. We are rooting for you, Mel."

I agree with KC. Although, Mel, I hope you can create enough that we don't have to buy both, KC's option is a good one and I think everyone out here should consider it for our future ... and well Mel's too! As for the tech support concerns I have seen you post elsewhere Mel, maybe a number pf the members of this community can help until the substructure can be set in place. I know that this may take a season or 2.

Joel

Tired of Changing Tax Software :-(

BTW while writing this post, on hold with ATX 25 minutes for tech support at 8:00 am. Geesh!

[RJM]

Has anyone thought through organizing some kind of cooperative, taking a straw poll of what each member would be willing to contribute NOW in terms of startup funding. If we had 200 of us decide to put in $500, we would be able to fund Mel and any subcontractors with $100,000 to start working on this without worrying too much about losing a few tax clients due to inattention, etc. Or it would give Mel the option of sending a bunch of his returns to a tax subcontractor, or who knows?

One form might be less onerous to set up..... where 200 or 300 of us would each ante up $500 to $1000, and let it ALL be at risk, but take no ownership in the entity. Rather call it a loan or a prepaid annual program subscription fee, to be credited back to the original subscribers on a $2 for $1 basis in future subscription fees.

Mel, if you are listening, have any interest in some capital NOW? Any other comments from you ATXers? And what to call the package.... how bout MelTax? -Bob

[Lion EA]

I've already told Mel that I'd invest right now &/or pay right NOW for one or two year's worth of the future tax software. Hope he takes us up on our offers when he needs to capitalize his business.

Maybe I'm returning to my 60's college days, but Mel in Hawaii makes me think of mellow; how about Mellow Tax? Would our clients be less stressed if they knew we were using Mellow Tax? Would we?

Maybe Mel can run a naming contest with entry fees to raise money. Or sell the naming rights like those big stadiums. He could run an online auction like SnapNames or someone just did to auction off popular domain names.

[michaelmars]

don't you pay attention to politics, they are going to eliminate the irs and thus US! no need for a tax program anymore.