The past several months have seen many very positive developments for ODF. Following is a summary of key ODF-related policy developments, events and resources. As always, the ODF Alliance thanks its members for their continued support in advancing ODF!
“Open standards-based interoperability through ODF offers real value to governments in terms of choice of IT solutions, savings, and long-term access to data.”The ODF Alliance applauds the vote in support of an Open Document Exchange Format as a key step towards bringing the European Union to the goal of removing dependency on products and technologies by using standardised formats that promise interoperability of document processing. Information exchange and document interoperability are critical elements of the internal market for e-commerce and therefore are a central issue in eGovernment strategy. Open standards-based interoperability through ODF offers real value to governments in terms of choice of IT solutions, savings, and long-term access to data.
View the Report: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sid...
“Governments around the world increasingly recognize the importance of open ICT standards to encourage choice and interoperability, lower costs and spur innovation.”While this trend has resulted in the Open Document Format (ODF) becoming widely recognized and increasingly accepted by public sector authorities, there continues to be confusion and challenges with implementation of purported alternatives, such as Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML). In order to help inform public officials on this topic, the ODF Alliance has produced a paper that explains the current status of OOXML implementation, including the history that led to the standards development and standardization, and ultimately multiple different OOXML formats today.
Download the Paper: http://www.odfalliance.org/resources/OOXML_Govs...
“In August, Eduardo Macaluse proposed legislation in the Chamber of Deputies in Argentina to require the implementation of open standards by the national public administration.”1. store all digital information using formats that comply with open standards
2. use formats and protocols that comply with open standards when delivering information in digital formats
3 accept information required from citizens in at least one format and that complies with an open standard and via, at least one, communication protocol that complies with open standards
4. define "open standards" as any codification or information transfer specification that satisfies all of the following conditions:
(a) be universally available for access and implementation;
(b) does not force users to use products from specific vendors or groups;
(c) allows freedom of implementation and use by any person without paying royalties, charges or obligations, except those that the certification bodies would require to certify compliance;
(d) does not favor any implementation above others, for any reason other than the compliance of technical standards of a implementation
5. submit the complementary regulations needed to gradually establish a harmonization of file formats that allows interoperability between National Government agencies and offices.
View the bill: http://www1.hcdn.gov.ar/proyxml/expediente.asp
“The Interoperability Demo provided a great opportunity to demonstrate how open standards are implemented and supported throughout a wide range of products.”The ODF 1.2 Interoperability Demonstration was held in conjunction with the OpenOffice.org Conference in Budapest, Hungary, at Central European University. Real-world documents, provided by scenario partner Louvre Labs, many containing images of artwork in various states of restoration, were programmatically extracted and stored as a new ODF presentation file. This new presentation file was reformatted with the lpOD Python programming library, applying templates provided by KOffice and OpenOffice.org for automated styling. The resulting ODF file was read and edited by a number of desktop ODF applications including Oracle Open Office and KOffice. The edited document were then reviewed by a colleague using a Nokia N900 smart phone. By accessing the embedded RDF metadata, including the author's vCard data, the N900 automatically connected to the author where a discussion completed the review and approval process.
The Interoperability Demo provided a great opportunity to demonstrate how open standards are implemented and supported throughout a wide range of products. The demonstrations illustrated the breadth and power of the format to handle enterprise, academic, and government needs. With the range of supporting software, the Demo clearly highlighted the modern productivity application support for ODF users of all needs and abilities. Additionally, the Demo illustrated that ODF 1.2 provides a solid foundation for expanding the ODF application ecosystem to serve a broader range of business users and consumers.
See the OASIS press release here: http://opendocument.xml.org/news/oasis-inter... ⬆