<explanation>

Tao, let me preface this explanation below with the fact that our daughter is autistic. We use fake money because this started as a physical catalog-based store that we created in publisher and printed out as it was modified. The original intent was to teach monetary concepts and help her learn to save while also helping to enforce desirable and positive behaviors in place of certain non-desirable behaviors or actions. We are simply trying to move this one step further. Store credit would not give her the physical representation of money that she requires to fully understand these concepts. Think of the physical money as an immediate reward for her when she engages in a desirable behavior.

As a person living in the digital age, I can already tell you that I've watched many people (including myself as a teenager) get into trouble with things like non-physical money (debit cards, digital currency accounts, etc.). The reason for this is the idea that you are spending money diminishes as you use just swipe a card or login to an account. This is what we eventually want to lead up to with our daughter, but the physical money helps to enforce these concepts, and gives her something to represent how much she actually has. A big issue we have encountered is her lack of impulse control. Teaching her to save her money for the larger items in the store (A game she really wants, something of choice at the local stores, etc.) has proven difficult.

We will eventually move to all digital when we feel she has a grasp of money concepts (which isn't that far off as she is only very recently beginning to understand "a lot" VS "a little"). Additionally, we don't want to jump ship too quickly to all digital until she is able to better exhibit impulse control.

So, needless to say, she earns money in a lot of different ways throughout the day. At night, once per day, she is allowed to buy something out of the store. We include lots of little things for her as well, not just big ticket items. However, we do include things she wants that are higher priced in hopes that she will save, or learn to buy something little every now and then vice HAVING TO buy something every night.

</explanation>

Does this help?

OK, if you are reading this, then you must be immediately killed because this project is top secret...no, just kidding.

Anyways, this idea came to me after my wife and I implemented a "store" in our home to help reward our daughter for appropriate (desirable) behaviors. This allows her to earn fake money for things that we add to the store. It is based around a central catalog which we maintain. Unfortunately, maintenance and printing this catalog has become quite tedious and I have decided that I want to take a stab at digitizing the store.

Enter the new project. So, we have a media server running on an old dual core laptop. For what we use it for, it works well (DLNA to our PS3s). I have since installed a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) suite on the laptop in hopes of setting up an "ecommerce" site for my daughter. This would help us by allowing us to more easily add items to the store, while also re-enforcing memorization of things like her address, birthday (birthday specials), family birthdays, etc.

The need: Here is what I am looking for. Right now, I have installed and have actively running a copy of Zen Cart, Open Cart, Presta, and soon oscommerce. I am looking for an ecommerce solution that is simplistic enough to where I don't have to edit every conceivable attribute for a "product" in order to add it to our catalog. I would like for her to be able to submit orders, payment type of "check", and check the status of these orders. This will not only help us re-enforce proper money use, but it will eventually allow us to involve "fake checks" and a "fake credit card" system that we want to implement as well.

So, I am looking for suggestions on potential open source products I can implement to help get this under way. One shortcoming I have found is the lack of page editing capabilities without having to modify TPL files. I would like some form of basic WYSIWYG editor.

Other than that, I am open to other ideas.

I am open to any and all suggestions. What does everyone think?

That is my biggest pet peeve with most F/OSS software. The software works as a free alternative, but since it is free, it is often left in the "Good enough" state. Often times, when someone complains about a F/OSS product, one of three responses comes about:

A. If you don't like it, don't use it. It is free after all
B. You can't complain about something that is free.
C. Take the source code and write your own.

In most projects like this, everyone wants to do the sexy pieces of the project that everyone sees. No one wants to take the time to make the UI fluid, eliminate graphical glitches (Yes, they matter to the average user and indicate a level of quality in the product), or to perform proper logic within the application.

This is what turns me off to most graphical based (which is what the average user will want) programs in the F/OSS world. I can't tell you the number of times I watch programs create artifacts or react unpredictably each time I use Linux (And yes, I use it daily. Namely, #!, Fedora, and Suse (Backtrack if you count work)). Predictability is huge and is definitely a piece that Windows/MAC have a leg up on when compared to Linux.

Is there going to be a "Time for Linux"? Probably. Is it any time soon? Not until applications and windowing/UI systems mature.