> As some may already know I am sueing the french administration which recently > (a couple of years) broke the support of no js web browsers. > [...]
> Personally, I was much more scared of the DSP2 directive that basically made > Google/Apple powered smartphones mandatory for online banking/shopping. > [...] Although both of the previous posters touch on valid issues -- and I'm sure all of us could add at least one or two different items to this list -- these are unfortunately only "singular data points" part of a larger problem... I think there is a broader issue here related to our "digitized society", or better said to the way this digitization happened, it's real world costs (not only in financial terms, but also user accessibility, etc.) and the way it starts to leave behind large groups of population (and more often than not these intersect a lot with vulnerable groups). In my country (although an EU member, the least "digitized" of them all, although we are in the top 10 in the world when it comes to broad-band speed and accessibility) these issues are exacerbated a lot: * sites that contain useful information don't survive more than a couple of years; (sometimes the Internet Archive can help, sometimes it can't even snapshot a certain site;) * some sites rely on Flash, others don't work at all if you have JavaScript disabled or even cookies disabled; * if there is a software that one has to use, it works only on Windows (a certain version of it); * if there is a PDF "form" that one has to submit, it works only with Adobe Acrobat, which works only on Windows and OSX; (the Linux version was abandoned a couple of years ago;) * the documents (laws, and similar) that are posted are most likely a PDF with scanned images; (rarely I've seen a PDF with actual text;) * if there are backoffice systems (like for national health system), these often break and disrupt those in need of those services; Therefore I think that the EU (or any other governing body), W3C, EFF and other public organizations should actually get together and think on how to better solve the underlying issue of having a truly digitized society: * where the published documents are in a **standard** and **simple** format that can be easily implemented or even "read" by the human without any other software; (for example text-based with nothing more complex than sections, paragraphs, lists and links;) * where applications (frontends or downloadable, thus not backends) are written in such a way that they maximize portability, stability and longevity; (for example a plain HTML form from 20 years ago still works without a trouble in modern browsers, perhaps even in Lynx, but a Flash-based application, let alone a compiled Windows one, can't be even run these days...) * where accessibility (both for the disabled, the elderly, and those with limited access to internet and electronic devices) is the focus, not an after-thought; * obviously everything must be as transparent as possible (i.e. open-source or similar); * among other ancillary (but very important issues) would be: authentication, auditing, long term archival, off-line download of one's data, etc. Although, being pessimistic, I don't think we'll ever reach such a state of affairs, certainly not in my life-time, for a couple of simple reasons: * competency -- the governments aren't even aware that any of the above are real issues, and unfortunately consultants working for those governments are interested on bottom lines and sales, not actual "humans"; * eye candy -- if I were to give a random group of people (that are accustomed to Facebook, YouTube, etc.) two applications with similar functionality, one written in JavaScript with React / Angular (or even Flash) and one based on plain HTML forms from 20 years ago, although they will have similar functionality, ordinary people will choose (and demand) eye-candy and don't care (because they don't know as the governments) the implications of all the complexity it brings with; * software vendors (SAP, Microsoft, IBM, HP, etc.) -- they prefer writing complex, thus unstable, unreliable, and easily obsoleted applications because they make money out of it via two mechanisms: first the initial development and deployment cost, and then the on-going maintenance cost; Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, Ciprian.
