General Consultant Discussion

This is where, in my opinion, accounting software will soon head. At least we will see options for customers not on plan to choose perhaps an ad or ""us us as your credit card processor"" supported software.

If you're right, this is depressing

Just think of the next wave of business owner. They're already conditioned to trade personal privacy to Facebook in return for ""free"". It might be a small step to convince them to trade financial privacy for free ERP.

In a way, Sage already does this on the information center tab of the desktop launcher. I would be surprised at all if they ramped up the shameless promotion here.

I haven't looked into this one, but I wonder if two issues won't mitigate this. 1) How, exactly, is your accounting data returned to you when you leave? 2) Will ""personal data"" expand to elements of ERP data: revenue, Assets, etc. ?

I worked with a company writing a medical record and I know that their interest is far more focused on aggregating the patient data and selling it to drug companies than generating ad revenue. Read the fine print on your next doctor/hospital disclosure. I believe the same will be true for other software industries especially ERP.