4 ms·

Looking at the bill itself[1], I don't think the short sentence summary is correct. I think the summary might actually hurt the bill, rather than help it. Wha

by tyingq 5y ago

Looking at the bill itself[1], I don't think the short sentence summary is correct. I think the summary might actually hurt the bill, rather than help it. What I'm seeing is things like: "No person in the state of New Hampshire shall be required to use proprietary software for any interaction with the government,..." I don't see anything that would, for example, ban Microsoft Word, unless it somehow became mandatory for a NH citizen to have to own it to interact with the state. https://gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billText.aspx?sy=2022&id=1363&txtFormat=html https://gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billT...

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
kragen 5y ago
It's surprisingly common for government agencies to request that you send them Word documents or install some proprietary software.
- pabs3 5y ago
  That LibreOffice can create/edit Word documents means that particular requirement would be fine under the proposed bill. Installing proprietary software obviously wouldn't though.
  - int_19h 5y ago
    It would still require that the documents open correctly in LibreOffice, no? Which might be difficult enough to ensure in practice for .docx that it would be easier for the state to mandate using ODF.
    - pabs3 5y ago
      Mandating using ODF would indeed be much better, but of course that mandate doesn't prevent interop issues from occurring.
      - int_19h 5y ago
        What I meant is that if there's a law that says that interop with F/OSS must be possible, it'd probably make more sense for government agencies to internally mandate the use of ODF for all outputs, than for them to test and fix every .docx that they produce for compatibility with LibreOffice. ODF might not be free from interop issues, but I'd expect the baseline to be much better.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
  Or PDFs that can only be used from Acrobat reader.
  - bruce511 5y ago
    Pdfs open in Firefox just fine. So I presume your emphasis is on only. Are there any features in a pdf that lock it to Adobe reader? Is anyone (govt? ) using that feature.
    - josephcsible 5y ago
      Some PDFs really don't work at all except in Acrobat. One example is USCIS form I-9: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-9.pdf https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-9...
      - tyingq 5y ago
        Interesting. Does not open right in Chrome, but is opening with Firefox for me.
        nybble41 5y ago
        The I-9 form an XFA application, not something anyone sane would recognize as a proper PDF. It's all JavaScript and XML-based forms stored as opaque streams inside a PDF container and has almost nothing in common with standard PDF files beyond the container format. It works in Mozilla because Mozilla's pdf.js supports XFA as of Firefox release 91. Most PDF readers do not support XFA, which is quite reasonable considering its rarity and the fact that it has been deprecated for several years. An HTML form would have been a far better fit for this purpose.
    - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
      JavaScript for form entry even though PDF already has an older form mechanism.
    - nonameiguess 5y ago

by tyingq 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

kragen 5y ago

It's surprisingly common for government agencies to request that you send them Word documents or install some proprietary software.

pabs3 5y ago
That LibreOffice can create/edit Word documents means that particular requirement would be fine under the proposed bill. Installing proprietary software obviously wouldn't though.
- int_19h 5y ago
  It would still require that the documents open correctly in LibreOffice, no? Which might be difficult enough to ensure in practice for .docx that it would be easier for the state to mandate using ODF.
  - pabs3 5y ago
    Mandating using ODF would indeed be much better, but of course that mandate doesn't prevent interop issues from occurring.
    - int_19h 5y ago
      What I meant is that if there's a law that says that interop with F/OSS must be possible, it'd probably make more sense for government agencies to internally mandate the use of ODF for all outputs, than for them to test and fix every .docx that they produce for compatibility with LibreOffice. ODF might not be free from interop issues, but I'd expect the baseline to be much better.
kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
Or PDFs that can only be used from Acrobat reader.
- bruce511 5y ago
  Pdfs open in Firefox just fine. So I presume your emphasis is on only. Are there any features in a pdf that lock it to Adobe reader? Is anyone (govt? ) using that feature.
  - josephcsible 5y ago
    Some PDFs really don't work at all except in Acrobat. One example is USCIS form I-9: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-9.pdf https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-9...
    - tyingq 5y ago
      Interesting. Does not open right in Chrome, but is opening with Firefox for me.
      - nybble41 5y ago
        The I-9 form an XFA application, not something anyone sane would recognize as a proper PDF. It's all JavaScript and XML-based forms stored as opaque streams inside a PDF container and has almost nothing in common with standard PDF files beyond the container format. It works in Mozilla because Mozilla's pdf.js supports XFA as of Firefox release 91. Most PDF readers do not support XFA, which is quite reasonable considering its rarity and the fact that it has been deprecated for several years. An HTML form would have been a far better fit for this purpose.
  - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
    JavaScript for form entry even though PDF already has an older form mechanism.
  - nonameiguess 5y ago