Commentary: In Romania, the Government Serves Just Windows Users

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2010-11-09 00:50:54 UTC
Modified: 2010-11-09 00:50:54 UTC

Summary: How the Romanian Tax Authority fails to serve people who are not already customers of Microsoft, a monopoly-abusing foreign proprietary software vendor

THE FSFE RECENTLY launched a wonderful new campaign regarding "PDFreaders". The FSFE insists that publicly-run sites (i.e. public sector) should not advertise proprietary software from Adobe and instead emphasise open formats and maybe recommend a wide range of free/libre software that can handle the formats. This way -- it is hoped at least -- governments will eventually cease to require that people acquire or 'hire' (download for instance) proprietary software just for the purpose of interacting with the government -- the one single government citizens pay for. One of our readers has reported what he called "other "bugs" from Romania".

"Today," he wrote, "in my company, I've received Romanian Tax Authority's (ANAF's) technical documentation about how to sign fiscal declarations using an electronic signature (digital certificate).

"There are only 3 private firms authorised by ANAF to issue digital certificates in Romania, so every Romanian accountant *must* use one of these.

"According to the provided documentation, the certificates work in Internet Explorer and in Netscape Navigator (????!), but the attached software, e-Token (from Alladin Software) is for *Windows* only.

"Please see some screenshots in following PDFs [PDF]. Also, we have an official procedure for how to verify the certificate's validity using *Adobe* Reader 5.1 (???!) [PDF] and another for using the certificate in Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0.1 for *Windows* , *Microsoft* Outlook and *Microsoft* Office (files for Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0.1 [PDF], Microsoft Outlook 2007 [PDF], and Microsoft Office 2007 [PDF])

"This is clearly neutral, vendor-independent e-Government for free-as-in freedom taxpayers," the reader concluded with sarcasm. More posts about Romania can be found below. ⬆

Recent Techrights' Posts

How We Do Techrights (and What's Changing Next Week): Many former news sites no longer yield much non-meaningless news (not anymore); there's a gap to be filled
Links 12/07/2026: Palantir Unrest and Wireshark 4.6.7: Links for the day
Links 12/07/2026: New Instrument Time and PalmOS Experiences in 2026: Links for the day
Red Hat Staff Says IBM Policy Has Stigmatised Him as a Tool and a Slopper With Plagiarism Tools: IBM is killing Red Hat with slop
Freedom of Choice or Freedom Versus Choice (or When All Choices Are Incompatible With Freedom): When some business asserts that it gives people different options, then it can rightly argue that it offers some choices, but that is not the same as freedom
Techrights IRC Turns 5 Without a “Code of Conduct”, “Code of Conduct Committee”, and All Those Bureaucratic Nightmares: 18+ years if one counts our time in Freenode as well
Why U No Use AI???: Many hype waves come and go
There Are Still Slopfarms in Google News: Google is trying to participate in if not lead this pyramid scheme
The Cyber Show Explains How Slop and Promotion of Slop is About Taking Control Away From Computer Users: "On making a trustworthy machine"
Keeping Available the Site at All Times: Informal arrangements and crowdfunding keep our work available despite resistance (including from people who break the law)
What If "Era of AI" and "AI Revolution" (Fake News) Never Happened?: So how much longer before the bust (or bubble-burst)?
GNU/Linux Approaches 5% in Australia: 5% by year's end?
Europe/EU is Moving Towards Independence, Fast to Adopt Free Software: More and more states (governments, public sector) in Germany are dumping Microsoft
GNU/Linux Grows at the Expense of Windows: People who want to get work done already left Windows
Tux Machines Growing as a Volunteers-Run Site: Historically the site did not have many original stories, but this changed as the audience grew and the site gained more recognition
Links 12/07/2026: European Commission Versus ‘Addictive Design’, "Google Loses Final Appeal Over $4.7 Billion EU Android Antitrust Fine": Links for the day
GNU/Linux Market Share Increases Some More Today, statCounter Measures It at 7.3%: Will more such thresholds and records be broken?
Gemini Links 12/07/2026: Studying Languages and 2026 Old Computer Challenge (OCC): Links for the day
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part XIII - At the EPO, Cocaine Addicts and Their Friends Are "Protected Class": What does that tell us about the EPO?
Increasing Output by Focusing on Originals: It's probably more important to carry on with these than it is to keep abreast of non-crucial news
Amid Strikes and Industrial Actions, Young Professionals at the European Patent Office (EPO) Kept on 'Short Leash', According to the Local Staff Committee The Hague: Issues affecting Young Professionals
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 11, 2026: IRC logs for Saturday, July 11, 2026
Blogs May be Making a Comeback (They're Not Fediverse, They Are Joined by RSS Feeds): Don't fake expansion where none existed
ChromeOS and GNU/Linux in the United Kingdom Reach 11%: the UK shows signs of digital maturity
Corporate Media: Blame the People Who Enter the Abandoned IBM Buildings, Not IBM for Abandoning Workers in Pursuit of IT Sweatshops: When the media spreads falsehoods stocks can go up (a lot higher), but at whose expense and how long for?
Canonical is Selling Microsoft, It Pays The Register MS to Sell Microsoft: It's all about money to them. And they call this journalism.
When Red Hat's HR Becomes the Same as IBM's HR (Bluewashing): Red Hat keeps sacking very experienced engineers and adding temporary interns
GNU/Linux Growing in East Asia: Assuming this is more or less accurate, we could use a plausible explanation
SUEPO Munich Report on the Recent EPO Demonstration and Rolling Strikes That Continue to Grow: "increasing registrations for the 'rolling strikes' running until autumn"
Over a Week After Microsoft Discontinued Some XBox Models It Apparently Exits Some Markets Altogether: We seem to be witnessing the end of XBox
Gemini Links 11/07/2026: Old Computer challenge, Poems, Antenna, and More: Links for the day
Links 11/07/2026: "Trademark wars of Influencer Culture", Xinuos Uses Copyrights Versus UNIX: Links for the day
North America: GNU/Linux Measured at 10%: To better understand what contributes to the gains
Following Corrections and Adjustments statCounter Sees GNU/Linux at 7.1%, an All-Time High: There is a lot of layoffs at Microsoft this month
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 10, 2026: IRC logs for Friday, July 10, 2026
Links 11/07/2026: Wednesday-Saturday News Catch-up: Links for the day
Prioritising High-Importance News: In order to fully catch up with news we'll not publish many new articles until next week