Speak Out: France and ODF


There is at present a public call in France for comments on a proposed reference set that would guarantee interoperability for documents throughout the government. [0] The idea here as elsewhere is to promote open standards and stop the waste proprietary formats impose. The OpenDocument format (ODF), which is now slated to be an ISO standard and is already an OASIS standard, has been proposed as the document standard by the French body. [1] But it is by *no means* a sure thing.

How can you help?

By commenting in the public space provided and by writing about it in blogs, articles, letters--anywhere that is public.

We need people who are involved in promoting the ODF, which OpenOffice.org and many other applications use, to help publicize the importance of the French administrations using an already-approved open standard like ODF. Massachusetts' decision to use ODF has galvanized the US and much of the world but in many ways this is just as important--and the consequences could be even greater.

Why is it important? It is important because an open standard for documents such as ODF not only guarantees interoperability and a stable document environment both now and in the future but also removes vendor lock in and thus gives the user real freedom of choice.

And it is further important to consider that because the ODF is natively supported by at least one open-source productivity suite, OpenOffice.org, cost is no barrier to its use.

Speak out.


Links

[0] http://www.adae.gouv.fr/article.php3?id_article=1064
[1] http://tinyurl.com/jsagd

You want: Référentiel général Interopérabilité Volet Technique in pdf on the right

http://tinyurl.com/hg8yc

The document is in French. On page 30, you have the rules referenced RIT0025, RIT0026, RIT0027

Posted: Thu - May 25, 2006 at 09:38 PM          

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