Hi Ben, Ben Rosenburg:
Yeah, I guess Tony Blair selling out the Brits to Microsoft and letting Microsoft setup a gateway to Government services that excluded people using non-microsoft browsers isn't selling out. :)
Are you sure this is true? I know our governement can be a bunch of morons at times but this sounds a bit dubious to me ... there are lots of people out there with non MS browsers (not just Linux users)! Maybe they did it then stepped back? Do you have an official link for it? James C. Rocks Equant Archway House Canary Wharf London E14 9SZ Phone: 0207-5226856 Fax: 0207-5126087 Mobile Phone: 07771-767405 http://www.equant.com
It was a story about a year and half ago. I don't have links to it anymore. They may have stepped back as far as putting it in general use, but I do remember it being a rather large story in the summer of 2000. Here's one link to a story about it. I'm not sure how far it got. But I remember people on this list bitching like you wouldn't believe about not being able to use anything but IE to access the site. http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/03/27/010327hnmsuk.xml You can research it more...it was called the eGovernment project. * James.Rocks@equant.com (James.Rocks@equant.com) [020530 23:42]: ::Hi Ben, :: ::Ben Rosenburg: ::> Yeah, I guess Tony Blair selling out the Brits to Microsoft and letting ::> Microsoft setup a gateway to Government services that excluded people ::> using non-microsoft browsers isn't selling out. :) :: ::Are you sure this is true? I know our governement can be a bunch of morons ::at times but this sounds a bit dubious to me ... there are lots of people ::out there with non MS browsers (not just Linux users)! Maybe they did it ::then stepped back? :: ::Do you have an official link for it? -=Ben --=====-----=====-- mailto:ben@whack.org --=====-- If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little. -GC --=====-----=====--
On Friday 31 May 2002 08.35, James.Rocks@equant.com wrote:
Are you sure this is true? I know our governement can be a bunch of morons at times but this sounds a bit dubious to me ... there are lots of people out there with non MS browsers (not just Linux users)! Maybe they did it then stepped back?
Do you have an official link for it?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24882.html Not very official, I know the reg is on about the same level as the Sun, but they do link to the official documents. As I understand it, you can use the portal with non-MS browsers, but if you want to conduct business with the government (say, file your taxes online) you have to use IE. Not all of it is online yet, I think they said 2005, so there's still time to complain. Or hope the French and Germans stop them with EU directives (yes, they can be good at times :) Our buddy Blair is in Gates' pocket, I don't think there can be any doubt. He even helped them launch Windows XP in Britain //Anders -- `When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'
On Fri, May 31, 2002 at 07:35:24AM +0100, James.Rocks@equant.com wrote:
Ben Rosenburg:
Yeah, I guess Tony Blair selling out the Brits to Microsoft and letting Microsoft setup a gateway to Government services that excluded people using non-microsoft browsers isn't selling out. :)
Are you sure this is true? I know our governement can be a bunch of morons at times but this sounds a bit dubious to me ... there are lots of people out there with non MS browsers (not just Linux users)! Maybe they did it then stepped back?
Do you have an official link for it?
From www.equifax.co.uk, the only digital certificate provider accepted by the UK government gateway:
How do I know if I can use Digital Certificates with my computer? Important Notice: In order to use Equifax SecureMark certificates for retrieval and submission of forms through the Government Gateway (www.gateway.gov.uk), the minimum system requirements are: Windows 95 or NT 4 (SP3) or higher Internet Explorer version 5.01 or above. If you don't have a digital certificate, then the number of features available to you are limited. Yet again, our Labour government has sold out the British people to the person offering the biggest bribe. I guess it won't be long before Blair becomes a Microsoft VP, he pretty much lives in Bill Gates' pocket. Oh, and these are *my* opinions, and not necessarily those of ST. -- David Smith Work Email: Dave.Smith@st.com STMicroelectronics Home Email: David.Smith@ds-electronics.co.uk Bristol, England
Well, Y wd have presented that another way, there wd'nt have been any doubt that this was a linux asset. "Are W$$ said keys only valid under Window$$, excluding linux ? " wd have been a non-cobtroversial title which wd'nt have prevented a discussion, while trying, at once, to set an answer up. I m not sure but this simply sounds to me like my ADSL's provider's requirments : min. WIN 98,..... also on my TV Card box, .... and, also, on a lot of winmodems or scanners,...etc,...etc,.... You got hundreds out of there claiming that w98 is a minimum requirment. This doesn't prevent them from working under linux. As far as I know, the condition the UK government puts is the same as the spanish government puts : it is not that Yu use Windows but that Yu use their key. The key distributor claims that Yu have to use W$$$, and sometimes Yu cant retrieve the key online if Yur not using W$$$ but, then, there always is a way to get it on a disquette. Implementing that key in Yr browser, mozilla, netscape, communicator or konqueror is then just routine and Yr government will not prevent Yu from communicating with him from within Linux. Anyway, Yu got anglo-saxon type laws and courts (as opposed to the napoleonic system in most of the non-anglo-saxon countries). Yu cd, for such a theme, go and defend Yr point of view Yourself at the british administrative courts and ask them to compell Yr government to be compliant with an equivalent-to-constitutionnal equality (as far as I remember, in the UK, there is no Constitution) of the citizens front to the law and, also, base Yrself on the EU's treaty parts which prohibit monopolistic practices from the hand of the Union's Governments (art.90 of the Treaty). This, if Yu feel discriminated as a linux user.
On Friday 31 May 2002 10:08, usb wrote:
The key distributor claims that Yu have to use W$$$, and sometimes Yu cant retrieve the key online if Yur not using W$$$ but, then, there always is a way to get it on a disquette.
Implementing that key in Yr browser, mozilla, netscape, communicator or konqueror is then just routine and Yr government will not prevent Yu from communicating with him from within Linux.
Now that sounds interesting - could you say how it's done, and whether it applies in other cases (or point to documentation)? My bank - French - allows me to certificate through Netscape on Linux, but my wife's bank - also French - does not. This means we have to switch into Windows every time she wants to access her account - difficult now, because after changing the mother board, I can no longer install windows on my pc (it was tied to the packard-bell set-up). Unless I can find a way round this, it looks like i'll have to purchase windows just to let Marie pay her bills. Best wishes Timothy Mason
James.Rocks@equant.com wrote:
Ben Rosenburg:
Yeah, I guess Tony Blair selling out the Brits to Microsoft and letting Microsoft setup a gateway to Government services that excluded people using non-microsoft browsers isn't selling out. :)
Are you sure this is true? I know our governement can be a bunch of morons at times but this sounds a bit dubious to me ... there are lots of people out there with non MS browsers (not just Linux users)! Maybe they did it then stepped back?
Do you have an official link for it?
http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/ The stuff on open source appeared a few days after I wrote to the minister but it was clear that they were not interested. Initially the site banned anyone other than M$ but the Government backtracked quickly when they realised that that might be embarrasing. Now you can view the pages with most browsers but can't use services without M$. It appers that some of the ukonline pages are more friendly, particularly the ones devoid of meaningful content. The UK Government appears to have given away to M$ for free any IP rights that arise from their site. Presumably M$ have given them some "help" in designing their site, which would certainly explain some of the inconsistencies between what they say about their site and what M$ say about it. Have a look on http://www.microsoft.com/ and http://www.theregister.co.uk/ for a bit more information.
* John Lamb
James.Rocks@equant.com wrote:
Ben Rosenburg:
Yeah, I guess Tony Blair selling out the Brits to Microsoft and letting Microsoft setup a gateway to Government services that excluded people using non-microsoft browsers isn't selling out. :)
Are you sure this is true? I know our governement can be a bunch of morons at times but this sounds a bit dubious to me ... there are lots of people out there with non MS browsers (not just Linux users)! Maybe they did it then stepped back?
Do you have an official link for it?
The stuff on open source appeared a few days after I wrote to the minister but it was clear that they were not interested.
That's all very fine, but it has nothing to do on SLE. Please take it to one of the lists where it belongs. Thanks, -- Mads Martin Jørgensen, http://mmj.dk "Why make things difficult, when it is possible to make them cryptic and totally illogic, with just a little bit more effort?" -- A. P. J.
* Mads Martin Joergensen (mmj@suse.de) [020531 00:00]:
::* John Lamb
* Ben Rosenberg (ben@whack.org) [020531 00:03]:
Mads community can not be dictated and until there is a moderator.. please don't be so sturn. :P
If this was moderated there would be about 20 posts per day...we assume that people are sensible enough not to discuss things like what OS the UK government's web site runs on. -- -ckm
* Christopher Mahmood (ckm@suse.com) [020531 00:27]: ::* Ben Rosenberg (ben@whack.org) [020531 00:03]: ::> Mads community can not be dictated and until there is a moderator.. ::> please don't be so sturn. :P :: ::If this was moderated there would be about 20 posts per day...we ::assume that people are sensible enough not to discuss things like ::what OS the UK government's web site runs on. Ok..ok. sheesh. We won't spiral off threads anymore. I guess when dude changed the topic to "UK Gov MS Gateway" it lost all meaning of the discussion. And I was more or less just making fun of Mads..he sounds very dictatorial lately. *shrug* Guess I should just go to bed.. *shrug* -=Ben --=====-----=====-- mailto:ben@whack.org --=====-- If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little. -GC --=====-----=====--
* Ben Rosenberg
And I was more or less just making fun of Mads..he sounds very dictatorial lately. *shrug* Guess I should just go to bed..
It's just b/c he is sitting on a lousy modem connection and don't want to stop contributing to this list. -- Mads Martin Jørgensen, http://mmj.dk "Why make things difficult, when it is possible to make them cryptic and totally illogic, with just a little bit more effort?" -- A. P. J.
participants (9)
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Anders Johansson -
Ben Rosenberg -
Christopher Mahmood -
Dave Smith -
James.Rocks＠equant.com -
John Lamb -
Mads Martin Joergensen -
Timothy Mason -
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