SoftExpo 2006 & DCF 2006 Korea


Earlier this year I visited Seoul for the inaugural Linux World Expo there and presented on OpenOffice.org and ODF. Next week I'll be back in Seoul for the SoftExpo 2006 conference. My argument in June was fairly simple and has since been refined. I argued that governments have the responsibility to their residents that the ODF coupled with OOo meets. Proprietary systems exclude users; open ones include. That is, by coupling the open standard ODF with the open source application OpenOffice.org users will have not only the flexibility of tools by which to produce information but free (gratis, too) tools to read or consume the material.

But that was over the summer, and I generally dislike discussing or saying the same thing more than once, especially in the same place. And I think that a lot of people have some legitimate questions concerning the ODF that I can try to resolve. This became apparent to me last October when I participated in the TACD conference in Boston. Participants are unaware of what XML is, for starters; or what ODF is and does and how it is different from, say, its implementations. There are also questions about the format's evolution and future--the format is constantly evolving--and who manages it.

Finally, the crucial question is, inevitably, How does it work with Microsoft's 2007 format, OpenXML? I'll leave queries about the Novell/ Microsoft troubled romance to Novell to deal with.... But there have been a fair number of articles discussing the differences between the two formats and whether one is better than the other. Hint: I believe the ODF is better. And I think it's better not only because it can be coupled with free software, like OpenOffice.org (which could also use OpenXML) but because there are many implementations now and in the future. What's more, the range of implementations has no real limit. ODf is easy to comprehend, OpenXML is not, and ODF is easy, or at least easier, to use as a format in applications. Put another way, it's kinder to the destined innovation we all are expecting coming from the Web and to foreclose use of it is hardly a good idea.

But reading all this I can't help but think it's a little dull. These are seriously important issues; decisions to use the ODF or Microsoft's Office format will affect millions for years to come. What's more--and in some ways more interesting--the very fact that this issue is political is of interest. And it's political not in some abstract way, the way that any government purchase might be, but in a more direct way, the way that, say, decisions on global climate change are (like even acknowledging it exists and is manmade). Both address the role and responsibility of government to its nation's residents both in the present and future. These things matter and they are not just about the interests of large multinationals. They really are about how intellectual works are to be exchanged and preserved.

Posted: Tue - November 21, 2006 at 12:23 AM          

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