Belgium Chooses OpenDocument 77
Freggy writes "The Belgian government decided today that all public services should use open standard file formats for the exchange of office documents ( press release in Dutch, French). The reason is that they don't want to force people to have to buy a proprietary program to be able to read official documents. All federal public services should be able to read ODF files by September 2007. If no problems arise after a study, the use of the file format will be obligatory from September 2008."
Since the article is in French (Score:3, Funny)
automatic web translator (Score:1)
Re:Since the article is in French (Score:2)
Can't Help It... (Score:4, Funny)
Dah dumph!
Re:Can't Help It... (Score:1)
Now do you get it?
agree (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:agree (Score:3, Informative)
Please repeat:
PDF is not a closed format.
PDF is not a closed format.
PDF is not a closed format.
PDF is not a closed format.
PDF is not a closed format.
PDF is not a closed format.
Re:agree (Score:2)
Netscape complained about Microsoft's integrated browser. That doesn't mean HTML is proprietary.
Re:agree (Score:2)
In a sick and twisted way.
Re:agree (Score:2)
Re:agree (Score:4, Informative)
Re:agree (Score:2)
Re:agree (Score:4, Informative)
Deja view, all over again (Score:3, Interesting)
When you realise that Bill appears to do everything either for more money or more control, this stops being surprising. This observation also makes the future plain: MS-Office document formats will almost certainly be broken several more times during the suite's death^Wlife-span, whereas more suites (possibly including MSO) will come to do OpenDocument I/O as well.
Belgium has (once more) planned to a
Re:Deja view, all over again (Score:2)
Re:agree (Score:2)
...and .xls files (including ones with VB Script) open fine in OO.o Calc, and .ppt files open fine in OO.o's presentation app (or whatever it's called), and...
...oh wait.
Re:agree (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:agree (Score:2)
Re:agree (Score:2)
I agree, but likewise no-one should be barred because they can't afford a computer.
Re:agree (Score:2)
go without saying (Score:5, Insightful)
Incedible this isn't self-evident for any government.
Re:go without saying (Score:5, Insightful)
It's sort of a litmus test, in fact. It's like sending out a survey ("Question: Do you think that forcing all of your citizens to send between $80-300 USD each to Redmond, Washington, USA is a good idea?") but without having to do all the paperwork. You just watch the results roll in.
Re:go without saying (Score:2)
receiving a substantial amount of tax revenue
I assure you tax revenue has nothing to do with it - brown envelopes stuffed with cash, "campaign donations", month long "fact finding trips" to tropical islands, etc - that's what motivates governments.
Re:go without saying (Score:2)
What format would this survey be distributed in?
tax or no tax (Score:1)
Well, that would be most of them seeing as MS basically pays no tax [theregister.co.uk]. Even so, that company must be running on fumes by now since even MSFT shares [yahoo.com] have been tanking in stages and its stock used to provide more income that its cash cow Windows.
Bad Reason Then (Score:1, Interesting)
Huh? There are free downloadable viewers for Microsoft Office documents as well as pdf files. You don't have to force anybody to buy anything when they are already free.
More FUD from the OSS crowd once again. Its not just the big bad evil corps that seem to be engaging in it.
Re:Bad Reason Then (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Bad Reason Then (Score:2)
Re:MODERATION ABUSE!!! NOT A TROLL (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:MODERATION ABUSE!!! NOT A TROLL (Score:3, Insightful)
The parent comment is a factual statement rebutting a point in the summary of the story. Why it is modded -1 Troll is peculiar.
Probably because it blatantly ignores common knowledge, and at the same time speaks in a derogatory manner. I think the moderator is probably correct that it is willfully ignoring in the hopes of trolling, rather than actually being poorly informed and mistaken.
The MS free readers are Windows only. They are also illegal under antitrust law and the subject of current litigation.
Re:whoohoo (Score:1)
Nice... not like here in MA (Score:4, Interesting)
This is really great to see progress on the open format front, even if it isn't in the US. The Massachusetts thing is such a farce... first they say they'll do it, then vendors make them question it, then who knows... I saw an article [boston.com] in the Boston Globe about Microsoft donating $30M "worth" of "advanced software-writing and Web-building technology" software to Massachusetts public high schools and colleges. While it's nice to get free stuff, we can easily see that Microsoft is doing that to keep schools from adopting open solutions. Why try GNU/Linux + the GNU dev tools for development, or Nvu for web site creation, when Microsoft gave us Visual Studio and (gulp) Frontpage for free? It's a good argument, too! I don't know who can do it, but someone needs to sit down and realize that accepting $30M of donated software is really allowing M$ to bypass a real evaluation of the best software for the school's needs, and gaining them favor in future business dealings. If the whole school has Visual Studio for free, of course they'll buy upgrades, especially if M$ throws in another discount! And for M$,it's just pure cash.
Re:Nice... not like here in MA (Score:2)
This is very important (Score:1, Insightful)
Belgium has a prioneering role in lots of initiatives, it's possible that other EU countries will take opening up their documents more seriously.
Hooray for Belgium!
Re:This is very important (Score:2)
Re:This is very important (Score:1)
Though three might be also true, but only to some extent if you think that the founding of Benelux should be considered as the start of the future EU.
this is stupid (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:this is stupid (Score:1)
Digital Signature (Score:1)
Unless a document is digitally signed, ANY format (proprietary or open) is editable.
Like the GP, I would much prefer documents that weren't meant to be edited to be distributed in PDF format*. Although they certainly can be edited, PDF's aren't generally meant to be edited and the format reflects this - and it is actually these "reflections" that make PDF preferable, not the issue of editability (if that's even a word) itself. Examples includes not reflowing pages and the availability of a light-weight re
Re:Digital Signature (Score:2)
If you want to be pedantic, those formats are editable too. Perhaps the signature probably won't validate (unless you don't mind waiting a little while), though.
that is a poor reason... (Score:1)
Besides, Word Viewer [microsoft.com] is, and always has been, free.
The point should be that the *format* is non-proprietary, not the program.
My two cents, anyway.
Re:that is a poor reason... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:that is a poor reason... (Score:1)
Re:that is a poor reason... (Score:2)
Re:that is a poor reason... (Score:1)
With Word Viewer 2003, you can view, print, and copy document contents to another program. However, you cannot edit an open document, save a document, or create a new document. This download is a replacement for Word 97 Viewer and all previous Word Viewer versions.
No Linux/Mac support and limited functionality. But you are right. The point is that the format should not be proprietary.
Free? (Score:1)
Word Viewer is, and always has been, free.
If it's free, where's the source code? Or even the binary for FreeBSD?
Re:Free? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Free? (Score:1)
No, I was pointing out that gratis != libre, and that the software is tied to a paid Microsoft product (the Windows operating system).
Re:Free? (Score:2)
Hot dogs, like a lot of proprietary software, are something you probably don't want to know what's inside.
Neither Free nor free (Score:1)
If I use Linux or FreeBSD, then the Word viewer isn't even gratis. I would have to buy a copy of Microsoft Windows.
Re:that is a poor reason... (Score:3, Insightful)
It is not once you factor Windows price.
Belgium??? (Score:2)
Re:Belgium??? (Score:1)
Rough translation (Score:4, Informative)
Use of open standards for office document exchange.
The ministerial department has decided upon the open standard format to be used for the exchange of office documents.
Minister Vanvelthoven: 'The format of office documents such as text documents and spreadsheets is currently based primarily on popular office suites such as Microsoft Office and Corel Wordperfect Office. Documents produced by these products can usually only be read by those products. When you need to exchange documents with someone else, you're also forcing them to use the same software that the document was made with.'
To reduce the dependencies on these proprietary formats, we need to make use of open standard formats. XML is a standard for the exchange of information between diverse computer systems; an XML based document is thus guaranteed to have long term accessibility to the information within.
The OpenDocument Format (ODF) is an XML based document format that is approved by the ISO (International Standards Organisation). Hence we propose to to settle on the use of ODF as the standard format for the exchange of office documents such as from word processors, spreadsheets, presentations, as soon as it's approved by the ISO.
All federal government departments must be able to read ODF documents by September 2007. This doesn't exclude the use of other formats. The responsibility of guaranteeing readability is up to the relevent departments.
Depending on the result of a [federal ICT dept] managed impact analysis, from September 2008 the official format for the exchange of office documents will be ODF.
How does this make it easier for users? (Score:1)
Admittedly, this is solely Microsofts fault. But I can imagine alot of people having the same problem.
Part of the Belgian Interoperability Framework (Score:1)
At the bottom of the press release is a link http://www.belgif.be/ [belgif.be] to a Wiki (available in English, French, and Dutch) discussing something called the "Belgian Interoperability Framework".
To quote from the site: