[Linux-aus] ATO - Software Compatibility

[David Lloyd]

Donna,

> > Until WE can demonstrate there is a need, *I* refuse to pay extra
> > taxes so that you can submit your tinpot return to the ATO. 
> 
> I doubt it would cost the ATO much to provide a linux ECI client. 
> 
> It's important that communicating with the ATO is not a roadblock for
> wider adoption of open source technologies.
> 
> When asked...
> "Do you believe that the Australian Taxation Office's Windows-Only
> policy is a roadblock to the adoption of open source in Australia?" 
> 72% of respondents to OSIA's industry survey said Yes.

Yeah, and any competent statistician would be able throw that statistic
out the window. That's beside the point.

What does your company do? Clearly it's not development or you wouldn't
make such bizarre statements as "I doubt it would cost the ATO much to
provide a linux ECI client".

How about:

 * testing time
 * regression testing time
 * project management
 * extra support (considering there's six trillion linuxes vs 3 Windows
   and 1-2 OS X)

Not to mention that others have pointed out that it is possible to write
Java code which is specific to a particular platform or platforms.

I have a product written in RealBasic which in theory should be portable
to Windows (it's an OS X product). Yeah, it displays but it certainly
doesn't do ANYTHING it's meant to do...

So let's drop the "It's easy part" and start to give them a reason to
help us. Putting it bluntly it would be EASIER FOR THE ATO TO NOT
COLLECT TAXES AT ALL (think of the money they'd save not having to
process tax returns); they've said it's not easy so let's just accept
the fact it's not.

Noone who programs cross platform ANYTHING says it is easy, so why are
we presuming this ECI (garbage) is?

Concentrate on what the ATO thinks is the main concern: THEY DON'T HAVE
A KNOWN MARKET FOR IT. Whether or not it is "easy" to port or not is
beside the point - that's not addressing their concerns.

DSL