recommend web-based accounting application - preferably unix/linux based

Those are both very cool looking app's!

I'm not an accountant but use Quicken to track personal finances

Could I use either one above to track personal finances?

I'm not sure, but they do have free trial versions. try them out

You could; it wouldn't be _quite_ as convenient as neither provides the simplified "Fill in a cheque" interface that Quicken does.

Understood.

But I'm a person who is taking a basic accounting class in hopes of starting my own business someday

Would it be possible to design and run a checkbook like interface on either app above.... and still have the features and complexity in background if one wanted to start a small business and needed said complexity?

Another question....

Both apps are server based, correct?

If a person only had ONE PC..... could he run the server portion on that PC as well as the browser/client portion?

I didn't look at the apps, but any ONE PC that was capable of serving the application would not have any trouble running a browser to act as the client as well. C

this is true. the other thing that impressed me about these web-based apps is that if you don't see a feature you like/want, you can add it! you can either program it yourself, hire a programmer to do it for you or pay the vendor a fee to have them customize it. This is a very powerful feature. Most off the shelf applications can't do this. You get a cookie-cutter product. another application that does this is sugarcrm

I believe this is the wave of the future.

another advantage of these server web-based apps. is that it's very hard to outgrow them. I've seen many cases of small businesses out-growing quickbooks. Also, since they're web based, all you need is a web browser to work on them. Remote locations can access the apps. through VPN, SSL website or even dial-up! It's browser based so the performance is very fast.

What I can't figure out is if they're any good for accounting! I'm not an accountant - I'm an IT consultant. What do accountants look for in an accounting application? What features make a great application vs a mediocre application? I don't believe any of the marketing bull**it that vendors tell you. What do experienced accountants have to say about this? That's what I want to know!!

This has nothing to do with it being a web-based app. It has to do with having the source code. Any program for which you have the source code, and the talent to understand or modify it, can be changed.

This is one reason "open source" is so popular.

Outgrowing them or not has to do with the sophistication of the application, not the fact that they are web based. The advantage of web-based is that they generally can be accessed by any client (although some M$ stuff locked you into Windows Explorer), from anywhere which the server allows access. The performance has to do with the resources required by the application and the resources available on the platform it is running on.

Accountants like the application that they know and are familiar with. If they are an outside firm just doing a compilation, is that the General Ledger given to them is complete and make sense. If they are doing a review or an audit, they care about proper accounting controls.

Very cool!!

I've been looking for a god CRM I could use on a personal level

Have you actually used this app any?

yes, I've installed it at several client sites and I use for myself. I have it running on my laptop (Mac powerbook g4). Runs like a charm.