[ale] Rant[ish]: government and states requiring proprietary software

[mike at trausch.us]

To start:  Why, exactly, is this even allowed or lawful?

Up until I started a formal business entity, I really hadn't noticed
except when I did my GA taxes each year.  Now that I am running a formal
business entity, though, I'm finding more and more situations where
people in other businesses and (particularly) government are making
stupid decisions that inhibit me from being able to use secure software,
free software, or in the worst cases, BOTH.

This should be punishable.  It should be illegal.  It is absolutely
unethical, IMNSHO.

Example: GA and OH have PDF documents that REFUSE to render unless the
PDF reader software has JavaScript enabled, and half of those don't work
properly in Adobe's Linux version of Adobe Reader, meaning that I have
to resort to booting up Windows in order to perform certain functions in
either GA or OH.  Such as getting setup to hire people, filing taxes,
and so forth.

Of course, we're mostly talking government here, which means that it's
entirely likely that it's not going to change any time soon, if ever.
(Well, that's not entirely true: change is at least possible in Ohio,
but it isn't here in Georgia.)  Point being, though, how can these
entities not have even the most basic of knowledge in what they're
doing?  Where are their technical experts?

And most of all:  WHY DOES A STUPID FILL-IN-THE-PAPER-FORM REQUIRE
JAVASCRIPT IN THE FIRST BLOODY PLACE?

	--- Mike

-- 
A man who reasons deliberately, manages it better after studying Logic
than he could before, if he is sincere about it and has common sense.
                                   --- Carveth Read, “Logic”

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 726 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
Url : http://mail.ale.org/pipermail/ale/attachments/20120914/49605a4d/attachment.bin