Government Software

Well-written software can be intuitive and full of AI-like checks that are invisible to the user.

"What is the date of your birth?"

How hard is it to have software that accept input in multiple formats?

7/4/76

-or-

July 4, 1976

-or-

07/04/1976

-or-

04-07-76

-or-

.....

and to add a data validation query before proceeding

"Did you mean July 4, 1976?  O Yes    O No"

Government software lets you make an input it will not accept and then let you fill out another 6 pages of the form before bouncing you on the "verification"...while refusing to tell you which input it dislikes.

And why do on-line forms lock-up so frequently? And why don't they put the data you enter into buffer or auto-save so when you have to CNTL-ALT-DEL out of the program you don't lose all of your inputs?

Private vs public sector

When a business in the private sector writes hostile software it goes out of business.

When an agency in the public sector releases hostile software, frustrated users are fined or sent to prison.

While solid software is not trivial to write, the requirements are not a mystery. I suspect that some of our government overlords like the ability to hold capricious and arbitrary penalties over us unwashed-masses.