Bonum Certa Men Certa

ODF Alliance Newsletter: Latvia and UK Join the ODF Bandwagon

Courtesy of Marino Marcich, ODF Alliance

Spread ODF






UNITED KINGDOM THE LATEST GOVERNMENT TO ENDORSE USE OF ODF



The United Kingdom has joined the growing ranks of governments that have now endorsed the use of ODF. Under the “Open Source, Open Standards and Re–Use: Government Action Plan” the UK government will specify requirements by reference to open standards and require compliance with open standards in solutions where feasible. The government indicated it will support the use of ODF. It will also work to ensure that government information is available in open formats, and it will make this a required standard for government websites.

http://www.cio.gov.uk/transformatio...




ODF-NEXT: SUBMIT YOUR IDEAS FOR THE NEXT-GENERATION ODF!



Do you want to have input on the next major version of ODF? The OASIS ODF Technical Committee invites you to help define the feature set of the next major revision of ODF following version 1.2, provisionally named “ODF-Next.” The ODF TC has created the ODF Requirements Subcommittee, chaired by Bob Jolliffe, to gather, categorize and prioritize proposals for ODF-Next, and to report back to the ODF TC with recommendations. The target date for this report is 1 May 2009. The work on ODF-Next will take place concurrently with the finalization of ODF 1.2 (see below).

http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/...




ODF 1.2 NOW A COMMITTEE DRAFT



The OASIS ODF Technical Committee has recently finalized the approval of technical proposals which will be included in ODF 1.2, the most significant revision to the ODF specification since its approval as an OASIS standard in May 2005. Once these proposals are integrated into the ODF 1.2 draft and remaining editorial tasks are completed, the draft specification will be sent on for Public Review (hopefully before the end of April) and then finally onto a ballot for approval as an OASIS Standard. ODF 1.2 includes support for extensible metadata, spreadsheet formula, and digital signatures, among other enhancements.

http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/documen...




NEED FUNDING FOR YOUR ODF PROJECT? CONTACT NLnet FOUNDATION



The NLnet Foundation (in Dutch: Stichting NLnet), a philanthropic organization, is seeking ODF projects in need of funding. The program is a joint initiative of the Dutch government, led by the minister for Foreign Trade Heemskerk and the State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations Anna Bijleveld-Schouten. The deadline for submitting proposals is 1 April 2009. The "Netherlands in Open Connection" action plan called on the Dutch central administrations to be able to accept and use ODF files as of April 2008 and all other government bodies in the Netherlands by January 2009.

http://www.nlnet.nl/news/2008/20080124-ca...




LATVIA APPROVES ODF AS NATIONAL STANDARD



Latvia's standards body, Latvian Standard (LVS), has officially approved ODF as a national standard. Latvia now joins Sweden, Brazil, Croatia, Italy, South Korea, and South Africa as countries whose national standards bodies have formally approved ODF. Taiwan's approval of ODF by its Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) was announced 21 January 2009.




NEW OR IMPROVED ODF APPLICATIONS SUPPORT



DataNucleus Access Platform 1.1.0, which provides access to a range of datastores for Java applications, supports persistence/querying of OpenDocument spreadsheets. http://www.datanucleus.com/news/access_pla...

ShowDocument is a free service for online meetings with fully synchronized co-browsing of any document in ODF or other file formats. http://www.showdocument.com/

Gnumeric 1.9.4, the latest version of the Gnome office spreadsheet, is now out. http://projects.gnome.org/gnumeric/announcements/...

SpreadsheetExport is a PHP library for exporting spreadsheet data into different formats. Currently CSV and ODS (OpenDocument) are supported. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=253957

Sun ODF Plug-In 3.0 for Microsoft Office is now available, giving users of Microsoft Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint the ability to read, edit and save to ODF. http://www.sun.com/software/star/odf_plugin/index.jsp

Officeshots.org, a collaborative initiative of the Dutch government program "Netherlands in Open Connection" (NOiV) and the OpenDoc Society, is a free, web-based online tool allowing users to compare the output quality of a large number of office suites and web-based productivity applications. http://officeshots.org/

Universal Extractor allows you to extract files, including ODF, from any type of archive. http://worldforfree.net/2009/02/04/universal-extractor-1.6.html




NEW ALLIANCE MEMBERS



Please welcome the following new members: Naber Web Solutions (Germany); Forex Direkt (Germany); Control Engineering Sweden AB; WWR systems (The Netherlands); and Dr. Hellmuth Broda Consulting (Switzerland).




EVENTS CALENDAR



Netherlands Open in Connection (NOiV) Congress [5 March 2009 – Utrecht, The Netherlands] http://www.ecp.nl/agenda/id=353/Het_NOiV_jaarcongres_2009.html

GoOpen 2009 [16-17 April 2009 – Oslo Norway] http://goopen2009.friprog.no/

Archaeo FOSS 2009 [27-28 April – Rome, Italy] http://www.archeo-foss.org/

eLiberatica 2009 [23 May 2009 – Bucharest, Romania] http://www.eliberatica.ro/2009/

Berlin Open 2009 [22-23 June 2009 – Berlin, Germany] http://www.grancanariadesktopsummit.org/index.php/Main_Page

Gran Canaria Desktop Summit [3-11 July 2009 – Canary Islands, Spain] http://www.grancanariadesktopsummit.org/index.php/Main_Page




ODF IN THE NEWS



Thumbs up for open source as UK backs ODF [John E. Dunn|TechWorld] http://www.techworld.com/applications/news/index.cfm?n...

Britain Endorses ODF; Why Not The U.S.? [Charles Babcock|InformationWeek] http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2....

Government expands support for ODF and open source software [Antony Savvas|ComputerWeekly.com] http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/02/26/23...

UK Government Endorses Open Source and ODF [Simon Phipps|Sun Mink] http://blogs.sun.com/webmink/entry/uk_government_endorses_open_source

Venice region settles on open source and open standards [Gijs Hillenius|OSOR.eu] http://www.osor.eu/news/it-venice-region-settles-on-...

Looking for Good Ideas for ODF-Next [Rob Weir|An Antic Disposition] http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/02/looking-for-good-i...

Recent Techrights' Posts

It's a Lot Easier to Participate in the Unethical System Than to Oppose Injustices in It
Going after powerful and high-budget interests is never easy
For the First Time in a Month OSI's "OpenSource.org" Blogs and It's Basically a Microsoft Blog Post (Microsoft Controls OSI)
For the first time in a month OSI writes something and it is Microsoft propaganda composed by a Microsoft-salaried operative
Microsoft, Already Borrowing 3 Billion Dollars a Month, is Trying to Cause Many People to Resign
MSN (i.e. Microsoft) and others openly admit it
 
Red Hat's Latest Talent Hunt, Day Ahead of Mass Layoffs, is Yet Another Microsoft Executive
Red Hat will apparently commence mass layoffs early this coming Monday
Links 08/08/2025: "Quit Facebook" and High Cost of Microsoft/Windows Shown Again ("BlackSuit")
Links for the day
Good Morning, Readers of The Register MS
Things The Register MS could (but does not) cover this morning
Why Gemini Protocol Has a Bright Future
Maybe Gemini Protocol's promise becomes more appealing as the Web turns to slop and bloat
Microsofters Filed Two SLAPPs Against Us, Now They Cannot Keep Up With Judges' Orders
For over 4 months already their facilitator in London has been under investigation by British authorities because of what's being done to my wife and I
Censorship Regarding Red Hat Layoffs
Talk about this? They'd rather not.
Struggling to Cut Costs, Microsoft Continues Shutting Down and Cancelling Stuff This Month
There are August layoffs at Microsoft
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 07, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 07, 2025
Fake 'Linux' Articles, Written by Bots to Take Traffic Away From Real Articles
LLM slop helps replace information with junk or misinformation
When Google's Googlebombing of "Gemini" Was Not Enough; They Now Also Googlebomb "Gemini Space"?
We know GAFAM not only worries about Gemini Protocol but also attempts to 'infiltrate' Geminispace
The Register MS Promotes Microsoft Slop, Assumes All Readers Use Microsoft Windows
Microsoft really dominates the site
Gemini Links 08/08/2025: KDE/Qt Development and What's Missing From "Retro"
Links for the day
Links 07/08/2025: US Punishes India Instead of Russia, Attacks Law Firms to Prevent Scrutiny
Links for the day
Read Us in Geminispace as Well
it's definitely a lot simpler than using a Web browser
Once a Site About BSD and GNU/Linux, and After Months of Silence, LinuxBSDos.com Comes Back Only as a Slopfarm
very frustrating
Links 07/08/2025: Hardware Wars, Mass Recall of Colgate Total Clean Mint, More Microsoft Holes Found
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/08/2025: "Right To Manage" and LoRa Analysis
Links for the day
GAFAM 'Says' is Front Page "News"
The point of journalism is to check and assess facts, not parrot what people and companies merely claim
Links 07/08/2025: Apple Makes False Promises, More Trouble for Microsoft
Links for the day
OSS Didn't Always Mean Open Source Software
"oligarchs all the way down"
The Register MS Does More Microsoft Sez or GitHub Sez (Says) Pieces
60 minutes ago
They Want Activists to Just Barely Walk and Eat, Not Do Activism Anymore
It's sort of like the ending of '1984'
Quit Perpetuating the Narrative of Gemini Protocol 'Dying' (It's False)
The "whisper campaign" against Gemini Protocol
Criticising Social Control Media in Social Control Media
Many people are quitting Social Control Media (fewer of them announce this in public)
Non-Free JavaScript Programs in Banks Aren't Even the Biggest Problem
Technology was supposed to make life easier; in practice, however, for most of us the opposite effect can be observed
Slopfarms Are Typically Fake News
Slopfarms typically relay falsehoods
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: Replacing a Pocket Watch and Buying in Bulk
Links for the day
IBM is Obliterating Fedora
"Fedora releases were shipping with an increasing number of bugs on launch day even while I was using it for a several year stretch."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 06, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 06, 2025
August Hits Microsoft Hard: Dead Divisions, Dead Products, Layoffs Again (on Week 1)
Microsoft's debt is soaring
Slopwatch: Slow Day for LLM Slop, Serial Sloppers Still at It in Their Slopfarms
The Web would be better off if those sites went offline
Red Hat Layoffs Expected in 5 Days (Monday)
"They will announce and proceed with the cuts on 08/11."
Links 06/08/2025: Substack in Trouble, Slop Sceptic Shira Perlmutter Seeks Emergency Injunction Pending Appeal
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: Pinephone, Reverse-Engineering, and More
Links for the day
Links 06/08/2025: Faked Values of Slop Companies and Government Bailouts
Links for the day
FOSSY 2025 Conference Safety
The GAFAM-funded FOSSY 2025 is over
Microsoft's Favourite Pay-to-Say 'Analyst' Firm Has Just Collapsed
'Analysts' that helped propel Microsoft to fictional values akin to Ponzi schemes
Ask Google (Jeeves)
What does Google "know", not know, or would rather forget (or embellish)?
They Want You To Talk About Trump or 'The Other Bill' in Relation to Trafficking of Underage Girls for Sexual Exploitation
Just something we wanted to say...
How to Quadruple Your "Goodwill" Value and Grow Your (Wall) Street "Value" From $152B to $4000B Without Producing a Single Successful Product/Service
The longer it goes on for, the bigger the implosion will be
Staying Productive
Two very reputable institutions recently told us they now reckon Microsoft is somehow funding those SLAPPs against us
A Blow for Patent Ambitions of Bill Epsteingate
It's about money
66 Countries Where More People Use iPhones (or iPads) Than Microsoft Windows, According to statCounter Data
a list of countries where iOS now exceeds Windows
Apple's iOS Bigger Than Microsoft Windows in Many Countries
This ought to alarm Microsoft
The Mainstream Media Talks About Spotify Share Price and Price Hikes, Not Its Debt Increasing by About 33% in Just 12 Months
Spotify isn't a company in good shape
New "US Editor for The Register" is 80% Microsoft and Windows
they typically just treat Microsoft like the "Holy Grail" of "IT"
Microsoft is Apparently Sending Gag Orders or NDAs to Staff That Got Laid Off (“We were told not to post on LinkedIn. Not to say anything.”)
The main lies we keep seeing
Richard M. Stallman Has Published AI Memos Since 1980 (45 Years Ago)
Back when the term AI actually meant something
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: BitTorrent and Feedly Bots
Links for the day
Windows All-Time Lows, Android All-Time Highs in Kuwait
New lows for Windows can be found in many countries this month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 05, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 05, 2025