Australia's 'e-tax' Windows Only 478
Kinky Bass Junk writes "As the need to submit tax returns is looming, notification emails are sent out to users of the tax office's services. This year, the Australia Tax Office (ATO) is using a web-based tax return system, as well as the traditional paper based systems. The e-tax website has all the details, and the requirements of the software stand out: 'e-tax is not compatible with Linux or Apple Macintosh computers. However, if you have suitable Windows Emulator software installed, you may be able to use e-tax.' Here is a protest email I have set up for those who disagree with this."
Protest.. (Score:2, Interesting)
This is not expected from federal agencies. Seriously.
Give us the source (Score:5, Interesting)
Does it really matter? (Score:1, Interesting)
I sent a letter to the IRS, and to the White House, informing them I could not pay taxes because I knew some of the money would be used to kill muslims in the Middle East. As a representative of God on earth, I knew killing is wrong.
Instead, I offered to offset my taxes by traveling accross the USA and leaving bibles in every hotel room.
I don't think people should pay taxes. I think taxes are evil. What we need is an income cap. That would do more to save our country. Has anyone been to a movie theater? $10 for a ticket, $4 for popcorn, $4 for a soda. Now multiply that by a family of 4. And add in some rasionettes. All of a sudden, Brad Pitt does not look so charming, when I know the motherfucker is getting $10,000,000 and $74 of that is comming from my wallet. Does that mean if he got $1,000,000 I would have only paid $7.40? Maybe not, but maybe the guy selling me my ticket would make more than minimum wage, and maybe I would not need to watch a Fandango commercial.
What was this post about?
Oh, taxes. And how Microsoft sucks. Maybe we can combine the two hates, and appoint Bill Gates as chief of the IRS. I'd hate to say it, but Gates would have a better chance of collecting Taxes from me than Uncle Sam. Bill has a say in how I view porn (Damn you and your DRM WRM v9, I never thought I would pay for porn).
Oh, about not paying for taxes. The government can not force you to. They can throw you in jail, that is true, but it will cost government $30,000 per year to house you and feed you and pay for the guards and electricity. So if you don't pay taxes, and government sends you to jail, you win. Not only did you not pay taxes, but you forced them to spend $30,000 a year on you.
Sadly in mexico is the same history (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Thank you foreign governments.... (Score:5, Interesting)
The company who wrote Platnik (Prokom Software) has a set of agreement with Microsoft, and any legal attempts are met with a campaign of delaying any action or dismissing it, usually for procedural reasons.
You can read the details (in Polish) on the pages of Janosik [janosik.net], an attempt to reverse engineer Platnik and create an alternative.
Re:The protest (Score:4, Interesting)
Hmm, no sooner way to get your email deleted then starting it with this.
You might as well send an email to them saying your are a "self-confessed knit-o-holic", and that you want them to start sending out tax forms that can be embroidered.
Re:Taxes windows only? (Score:3, Interesting)
If people don't take a stand towards such lazy developers, they will only continue to make single-platform software.
Considering there are plenty of viable solutions for cross-platform development available, I don't think there is any excuse for making single-platform software anymore.
The only possible exceptions would be for applications which require unusually fast processing, and for games.
Re:Thank you foreign governments.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Taxes windows only? (Score:2, Interesting)
I, for one, would very much prefer to have my taxes handled by a program that I can verify directly the security of, and which multiple other people have already looked at who are not connected with the project.
Security by secrecy of algorithm works poorly at best, while security by overwhelming mathematical complexity (as expressed by the time required to solve a given instance by the most effecient method known), and many proofreading eyes tends to work better.
Re:Give me a break (Score:2, Interesting)
It is if your code is GPLed, which I don't think is unreasonable to expect from a government-produced app. And if you think it is, GTK is also cross-platform, and it's LGPLed, allowing for the app itself to use any license. There are (many) other problems that get in the way, of course, but this one's covered.
Re:Taxes windows only? (Score:3, Interesting)
But you see, a government should aim to provide for all the people, not just a proportion of them, even if that proportion happens to be a majority. And - should a government decide to introduce an etax system - it should design a system that is as user-friendly and extensible as possible. Have you seen the crap that they use?? That's truly a system designed by the lowest bidder.
How hard would it have been to code in java? How obvious would that decision have been?? For that matter, why on earth wouldn't you have a server-side solution which any user can connect to from anywhere only needing a web-browser that supports HTTPS?
But no - our brilliant government decided to go with a solution that is limited to one OS only. Having a comment about using Windows emulator software just makes it worse, as it shows that they were aware of the fact that not everyone uses Windows, but decided to go with a Windows-only solution anyway.