this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
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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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[–] [email protected] 56 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months 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]"