Bonum Certa Men Certa

Breaking: Slovakia Chooses ODF and Other Open Standards (Updated)

Watch this space as we shall soon have an update

Here is a portion from our IRC conversation (taking place just minutes ago). We might soon have a manual translation of this news.




<PetoKraus> but i've got good pro-ODF news from my country <Eruaran> Explaining how a nice API does things for you, "we have little wood elves that run through he forest writing... code"

ODF format<PetoKraus> it seems that the government proposed a... law or regulation, which... <PetoKraus> yeah, our government is obliged to acknowledge only documents received in ODF, PDF, RTF or HTML <PetoKraus> no DOC / OOXML whatsoever <Eruaran> thats good <PetoKraus> preffered display/publishing format is PDF 1.3 <schestowitz> Good news. <PetoKraus> DOC is forbidden for publishing of documents, but allowed for intra-governmential communication




In other uplifting news, watch this short story.

My lawyer made my day this morning. Not just because he does a great job, I’m used to that and that’s why he’s my lawyer. The reason he made my day today is because the document he just sent me is in ODF.


The intra-governmental aspect of this may spur the network effect. Slovakia has already shown it was fond of ODF some time in the past.

Update: Peter Kraus, adding his IANAtranslator disclaimer, brings us the followiing translation of the news:




Which document formats will be used in communication with public administration?



After adoption of "National concept of informatization of public administration", where the current government set many bold time goals, the Ministry of Finances has, on Monday, submitted new draft handbill about used standards in public administration, with regards to communication with the public, businessmen and other subjects. The draft specifies all formats of documents, which the public service should be, compulsorily, able to accept.

(DSL.sk, 5th of July 2008)

On Monday has the Ministry of Finances of Slovak Republic submitted (on cross-resort discussion) new draft handbill of used standards, which should replace the current, valid one (from Ministry of Post, Transport and Telecommunications #1706/M-2006, 14.6.2006)

The draft was submitted after approving of "National concept of informatization of public administration" in second half of may, about which we informed here.

The bill is more developed and detailed, in comparison with the currently valid one, and incorporates various principles from aforementioned concept.

It differs a lot in prescribed standards in document formats, in many cases moved from closed to open formats, and precisely specifies the duties of public administration. There are couple problematic points in the draft as well.

Text documents



The biggest attention is drawn to text document formats, which are, currently, the subject of international discussion about the conditions of formats and software in public administration; as well as source of problems of ISO and subject of EU commission investigation.

The Ministry developed the specification in depth. It requires the public administration to be able to receive text files in all specified formats. (The wording of currently valid bill binds the public administration to accept only one of proposed formats, the decision of the particular format is up to the body itself).

Documents can be published only in one format (true in both, the draft and valid bill).

The formats, surprisingly, included the Open Document Format, which was about to be removed from the specification. In April, the Ministry said (for server DSL.sk), that ODF will be removed, because: "the main reason for change is, according to facts, the small spread of ODF."

In the end of May, Microsoft announced, that Microsoft Office will support ISO approved ODF sooner, than ISO approved version of OpenXML.

The public administration will have to be able to receive text documents in formats: ODF, PDF 1.3, RTF and HTML.

Documents will be published in one of these formats, preferably PDF.

DOC format will be used in the exchange of text documents between the bodies of administration, but is forbidden for publishing.

Presentations, Pictures, other types



New issue are demands on format of presentation, where the only one supported is Microsoft format, PowerPoint .ppt / .pps. Needless to say, that in case of presentations, the position of MS Office is much more stronger against the others, than in case of text/table documents.

Supported formats for table documents are missing from the draft. Data are to be exchanged using XML; which is the only standard supported for electronic forms, but this is without further specification.

Raster images are supported in formats GIF, PNG, JPG, GeoTIFF and TIFF; Vector images in Shapefile, SVG and Flash. The same rules for receiving and publishing apply - the administration has to be able to receive the documents in any of the formats, and publish in one of them. The technical difficulties can arise in accepting vector images in Flash.

Audio and Video formats are specified by container formats - MPEG, OGG and MPEG-7; codec standards are MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MP3 and XVID. This part looks incomplete, since XVID is usually transported in AVI containers, and there is lack of Theora/Vorbis support for OGG.

Streaming audio will be supported in format "H.261 and newer". Supported archives will include ZIP, and new support for TAR and GZ.

Web pages, Emails



There are several rules for web pages as well.

If the page contains more than 100 different published web pages, keyword-search must be included.

RSS channel must be included for every page.

Text documents have to be, after publishing on the web, in HTML format (applies for documents which have to be published by the law, or other directives).

Standardized are email addresses as well. First part of email addresses for persons are "name.surname@"; generic addresses, such as "minister@" or "mayor@" are to be created as well.

Security, Other



The bill specifies deployment of IPv6 in new system components. It's not clear, whether IPv6 must be supported in all new components, or not.

The security part was developed much more. It specifies rules of network and physical security, solves backups, and on theoretical level, protection against harmful code and software actualisations.

Backups are to be created weekly, for archivation one per two months in two copies. One archivation backup has to be stored in another (physical) place than the backuped information system.

Access control has to secure, that system administrators won't have access to the data, which they won't need for their duties - e.g. secret data in databases. According to our source from IT in the public administration (which would like to remain anonymous) - this can be problematic.

Access of every user to the system has to be logged, and these logs can be changed only after approval from responsible person.

Regular security checks are to be performed (at least one per year).

In comparison to the valid bill, this draft bill is less technically specific, mainly in cases of particular specification of used formats and standards. This can cause inconsistency in formats with more versions.

The bill can be commented on till 20.6., it should go into action 1.8.2008. Exceptions are applied to several points, which will take validity on 1.9.2009. Delayed will be support of PNG, XVID, OGG; also access control of administrators.


Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

They Don't Tell Us that 'Digitalisation' (Now Sold as "Hey Hi") Just Means Customers Become Unpaid Staff and Are Made Accountable
People are being conditioned to associate technology with something undesirable, at times even unbearable
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Has Layoffs and Microsoft Gaming/Entertainment Division Has an Uncertain Future
it's good to see all those horrible things crashing and burning
 
Global Warming and Global GAFAM Energy-Wasting
Burn more money (borrowed, loans), then hope the waste will somehow translate into profit?
No Compliance With the European Patent Convention (EPC) at the European Patent Office (EPO)
It's about preventing competition against this autocracy
Blue-Collar Trolls vs White-Collar Trolls
Examples of white-collar trolls
Apple Vision Pro Failed So Badly That Its Sales Are About 2,000 Times Smaller Than iPhone Sales
What's left for Apple to offer other than hype?
To Millions of People "Year of the Linux Desktop" Was Some Time in the 1990s (Bootable GNU/Linux as a Complete Operating System is Over 33 in Age)
In some sense, "year of the Linux desktop" was 33 years ago
Make No Assumptions (or Demands) About the Screen Resolution Used by Other People
There are usability aspects, aside from accessibility aspects
Why Wayland (and XWayland) Won't Solve the Key Problem It Proclaims to be Tackling (the Same Is True for Rust)
The problem isn't Wayland per se but the false promises and efforts to force everybody to move to it whilst insulting or demonising everyone who won't play along
Diplomatic Immunity Should Not Exist for Anybody
The EPO in its current form gradually 'normalises' the end of European democracy
Brett Wilson LLP Stopped Sending Me Papers When I Showed It had Sent Me Over 5 Kilograms of Legal Papers
A week ago we lodged our third lawsuit
Microsoft Mass Layoffs and Shutdowns Became the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft mass layoffs became a topic of everyday media coverage since May
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 21, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 21, 2025
FSF "Raised Almost $139,000 During This Summer Campaign"
"Thank you for making a stand against dystopia!"
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: VPS Exploited and Fear of View
Links for the day
LLM Bots vs Techrights
Slows things down a bit
New Publication Sheds Lights on Abuse of Workers at the European Patent Office (EPO)
Put in simple terms, they're killing the Office, harming remaining staff, try to hire rubber-stampers
Links 21/07/2025: Hardware, Health, and Imperialism
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/07/2025: "When Buying Isn't Owning" and "CMS Special Edition"
Links for the day
Links 21/07/2025: Indie Web and Toxic Politics
Links for the day
[Meme] Microsoft Lawyers Throwing Stones in Glass Houses
threatened me with bankruptcy
Google "AI Overview" is Not AI and Not Overview
do not be misled; what Google does isn't smart, it's just ripping off the sites it already crawled for as long as 27 years
Making the Case to Dump Microsoft and GAFAM for National and Digital Sovereignty
"Sovereignty is difficult"
The Tactics of the Opposition (Microsoft Lunduke): Associate With K00ks, Throw in Vaccines to Muddy the Water
Who stands to gain from this?
Europe's Second-Largest Institution (EPO) and Largest Patent Monopoly Office Needs More Transparency, Not Less Transparency
In the EPO, what good are elections when one candidate literally bribes all the voters?
How Not to Report News About Microsoft
This pattern of misreporting is so widespread that it's hard to believe it's not intentional
Computer Science is Under Attack, They Want Everyone to be a Consumer
If people can no longer acquire Computer Science education and real Computer Science experience, they will not know how to control their own digital destiny or emancipate the very same universities that now control the syllabus and instead of teaching Computer Science encourage the outsourcing of systems
The Best Tools Are the Simplest Tools
There's a hidden message here about the merits of sticking with X
Ofcom Online Safety Group Speaks of Protecting Women Online, Will Brett Wilson LLP Ever Listen?
They've essentially became like the Taliban's "burka police"
Social Control Media Relies on Advertisers, So It'll Always Be Hostile Towards Free Software
Sales, sales, sales
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 20, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 20, 2025
Fragmentation of Data
Life is too short to "hoard" data
In Defence of "Spinning Rust"
Just because something is "old" (or older) doesn't mean it ought to become extinct
Using Free Software to Prepare Legal Documents
LibreOffice is openly complaining about OOXML as an obstacle
Tech and Technology Are Not the Same Anymore
"Are you into tech, Sir?"
Our Articles About SLAPPs Receive Recognition and Interest
This week we shall continue writing about the 3 lawsuits we filed
Are You Served?
For many people, advocacy of Free software and GPL enforcement are assumed to be happening
Conspiracy or grooming? Alex Jurado, Voice of Reason compared to Outreachy
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 20/07/2025: Security Breaches and Former 'Open' 'AI' Engineer on Hype and Culture Issues
Links for the day
Links 20/07/2025: Fending Off BRICS and US Government Attacks Its Own Media (Like China and Russia)
Links for the day
Framed by social control media: Alex Belfield, Voice of Reason
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 20/07/2025: Summertime and OCC25 Wrap-up
Links for the day
Jamie Zawinski Complained About Wayland, Then Decided to Give It a Go, Now Complains Again About Wayland
Ask IBM (Red Hat) why it's worth throwing so much away just for Wayland fanaticism
Slopwatch: Planet Ubuntu, LinuxSecurity, and More
former "Linux" blogs which basically became slopfarms
Russia Set to Ban Facebook?
If WhatsApp is made to "leave", that means Facebook or "Meta".
Links 20/07/2025: More GAFAM Lawsuits, Layoffs, and SLAPPs
Links for the day
Taking Stock of a Good and Productive Week
We shall now be taking a break, unpacking the new hard drive (8 TB), and making backups of everything
Nice Recovery (From Actual Fire) by PCLinuxOS, New Version of PCLinuxOS Released, Now Top of DistoWatch
PCLinuxOS is a community-driven distro
More Microsoft Shutdowns That Mostly Slipped Under the Radar
Remember what happened to books 'sold' by Microsoft?
Microsoft Lunduke Still Fighting Cancel Culture With... Cancel Culture
There will be no "winners" in such 'debates'
The History of Daily Links and Politics
"I support Wayland, but I also support abortion..."
Ageism in Tech
Your protocol is "old"...
Microsoft is at 0% "Market Share" in Most Areas
Depending on the taxonomy chosen, there may be dozens of categories other than desktops and laptops
"The moment MSFT stock fails to start tumbling, that’s the beginning of another corporate giant going under."
There are far more layoffs at Microsoft than at Intel, but you would not get this impression based on Wall Street media
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 19, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 19, 2025