[plug] ATO Response for Linux Business Portal

[Onno Benschop]

Hi folks,

This message is to let you all know that the ATO is investigating the
possibility of making the Business Portal work properly under Linux.
This is important, because it would allow you to sign in with the
government's Common Signing Interface, or CSI, which would allow you to
interact with the government.

All that is fine and dandy, but the reason I care is because it will
also allow me to do my BAS from within Linux instead of using the ECI
software under VMware/NT.

The project manager for CSI has asked the following question:

> We are currently investigating support for Linux and the broader issue
> of CSI long term support for whole of government.  Can you please 
> forward the details of the contact people from the Perth Linux user 
> group so I may contact them to discuss their proposition for assisting
> with Linux support.

This request comes as a result of my asking the group if there was any
interest in supporting this project and the responses that came back.

The ATO has made it clear that they are not committing to anything at
this stage, they are *investigating* only.

While you may have something to say about their level of commitment, I'd
rather just get on with attempting to make this happen, so I'd ask that
you refrain from abusing the ATO at this stage, because I'm rather
chuffed that we got an answer at all. (It's taken about eight months to
get to here :-)

So, if you're still reading, not annoyed with my "imposition", I ask
that you consider how PLUG would want to interact with the ATO - if at
all - or if I should start a separate mailing list with those
individuals who indicate their continued willingness to assist Linux
users to interact with the ATO on a level playing field.

Fingers crossed,


Onno Benschop 

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