Comments on: More Governments Choosing ODF http://techliberation.com/2006/11/28/more-governments-choosing-odf/ Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology Fri, 25 May 2012 18:27:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Luis Villa http://techliberation.com/2006/11/28/more-governments-choosing-odf/comment-page-1/#comment-36187 Luis Villa Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:10:35 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2006/11/28/more-governments-choosing-odf/#comment-36187 <p>I have no idea what other governments are doing, but what is happening in Massachusetts is that the standard is 'we must store our data in open formats', and then gives a definition of what an open format is, which ODF (and I believe PDF) meet, and which Microsoft's format (no surprise) doesn't. MS could fix this by meeting the customer's legitimate requirements, but instead has chosen to lobby against them altogether, since actually opening the file format would (gasp) allow people to compete on a fair footing with Office.</p> I have no idea what other governments are doing, but what is happening in Massachusetts is that the standard is ‘we must store our data in open formats’, and then gives a definition of what an open format is, which ODF (and I believe PDF) meet, and which Microsoft’s format (no surprise) doesn’t. MS could fix this by meeting the customer’s legitimate requirements, but instead has chosen to lobby against them altogether, since actually opening the file format would (gasp) allow people to compete on a fair footing with Office.

]]> By: Luis Villa http://techliberation.com/2006/11/28/more-governments-choosing-odf/comment-page-1/#comment-52987 Luis Villa Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:10:35 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2006/11/28/more-governments-choosing-odf/#comment-52987 <p>I have no idea what other governments are doing, but what is happening in Massachusetts is that the standard is 'we must store our data in open formats', and then gives a definition of what an open format is, which ODF (and I believe PDF) meet, and which Microsoft's format (no surprise) doesn't. MS could fix this by meeting the customer's legitimate requirements, but instead has chosen to lobby against them altogether, since actually opening the file format would (gasp) allow people to compete on a fair footing with Office.</p> I have no idea what other governments are doing, but what is happening in Massachusetts is that the standard is ‘we must store our data in open formats’, and then gives a definition of what an open format is, which ODF (and I believe PDF) meet, and which Microsoft’s format (no surprise) doesn’t. MS could fix this by meeting the customer’s legitimate requirements, but instead has chosen to lobby against them altogether, since actually opening the file format would (gasp) allow people to compete on a fair footing with Office.

]]> By: Gary McGath http://techliberation.com/2006/11/28/more-governments-choosing-odf/comment-page-1/#comment-36186 Gary McGath Wed, 29 Nov 2006 14:38:28 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2006/11/28/more-governments-choosing-odf/#comment-36186 <p>I understand what you're concerned about, but in this case governments are also part of "the market," and have to make their own decisions when choosing software. Perhaps the issue could be better stated by saying that decisions at the national level are likely to be bad for particular offices, just as a decision by a corporate headquarters could frustrate the needs of particular departments.</p> <p>One question is how rigorously governments are requiring specific formats. If they're making no-exceptions rules, that could cause problems. But if interoperability is one of the goals, surely recommending a preferred format is a way to achieve that.</p> I understand what you’re concerned about, but in this case governments are also part of “the market,” and have to make their own decisions when choosing software. Perhaps the issue could be better stated by saying that decisions at the national level are likely to be bad for particular offices, just as a decision by a corporate headquarters could frustrate the needs of particular departments.

One question is how rigorously governments are requiring specific formats. If they’re making no-exceptions rules, that could cause problems. But if interoperability is one of the goals, surely recommending a preferred format is a way to achieve that.

]]> By: Gary McGath http://techliberation.com/2006/11/28/more-governments-choosing-odf/comment-page-1/#comment-52986 Gary McGath Wed, 29 Nov 2006 14:38:28 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2006/11/28/more-governments-choosing-odf/#comment-52986 <p>I understand what you're concerned about, but in this case governments are also part of "the market," and have to make their own decisions when choosing software. Perhaps the issue could be better stated by saying that decisions at the national level are likely to be bad for particular offices, just as a decision by a corporate headquarters could frustrate the needs of particular departments.<br><br>One question is how rigorously governments are requiring specific formats. If they're making no-exceptions rules, that could cause problems. But if interoperability is one of the goals, surely recommending a preferred format is a way to achieve that.</p> I understand what you’re concerned about, but in this case governments are also part of “the market,” and have to make their own decisions when choosing software. Perhaps the issue could be better stated by saying that decisions at the national level are likely to be bad for particular offices, just as a decision by a corporate headquarters could frustrate the needs of particular departments.

One question is how rigorously governments are requiring specific formats. If they’re making no-exceptions rules, that could cause problems. But if interoperability is one of the goals, surely recommending a preferred format is a way to achieve that.

]]>