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Am I the only one who hates these fake PDFs? (eclecticlight.co)

submitted 1 year ago by bazmatazable@reddthat.com to c/foss@beehaw.org

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I was forced to fill out an XFA form (that was pretending to be a PDF) from the Canadian government and the experience left me feeling completely subjugated. The lengths that Adobe go to to make sure that you have the most frustrating experience possible is unbelieveable. Searching for alternatives or help leads you to either: be forced to buy their premium software (or a licensed equivalent) or subscribe for Adobe's online tools. Why is this propriety format allowed in government forms? What is so fantastic/irreplaceable about this format?

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[–] jet@hackertalks.com 56 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Governments really should be forced to use open formats.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/XFA

"In 2017 the ISO Committee deprecated XFA from PDF 2.0.[4]"