[Linux-aus] ODF Alliance Newsletter - June 2007

Thu Jun 28 23:04:53 UTC 2007

Contact Your ISO/IEC National Standardization Body Today:
Vote "No" on OOXML!

Standards Australia Limited 
286 Sussex Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000 
GPO Box 476, Sydney, NSW, 2001 
Telephone: +61 2 8206 6000 
Email: mail at standards.org.au 
Website: www.standards.org.au

Each member body of ISO and the IEC is entitled to vote on 
Draft International Standard (DIS) 29500, commonly known 
as Office Open XML (OOXML).  

Send your National Standardization Body a letter urging 
them to vote "No" (disapprove) on OOXML. By voting "No", 
they are voting "Yes" for true openness, choice, and 
interoperability.  Ballots are due no later than 
September 2, 2007.

2) The Technical Case Against DIS 29500/OOXML -
http://www.odfalliance.org/resources/The%20Technical%20Case%20Against%
20OOXML.pdf

-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: Marino Marcich <mmarcich at odfalliance.org>
Reply-To: mmarcich at odfalliance.org
To: donna at cc.com.au
Subject: ODF Alliance Newsletter - June 2007
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:29:06 -0700

28 June 2007 

You can download a free PDF version of the newsletter: http://www.odfalliance.org/mail_list.php. Please feel free to forward to whom it may be of interest.

Contact Your ISO/IEC National Standardization Body Today: Vote "No" on OOXML!

Each member body of ISO and the IEC is entitled to vote on Draft International Standard (DIS) 29500, commonly known as Office Open XML (OOXML).  Send your National Standardization Body a letter urging them to vote "No" (disapprove) on OOXML. By voting "No", they are voting "Yes" for true openness, choice, and interoperability.  Ballots are due no later than September 2, 2007.

1) DIS 29500/OOXML Fact Sheet - http://www.odfalliance.org/resources/DIS%2029500-OOXML%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

2) The Technical Case Against DIS 29500/OOXML - http://www.odfalliance.org/resources/The%20Technical%20Case%20Against%20OOXML.pdf

3) DIS 29500/OOXML: Six Questions To National Standardization Bodies - http://fsfeurope.org/documents/msooxml-questions

4) Preserving Legacy Files with OOXML - http://www.odf-eag.eu/repository/white-papers/preserving-legacy-files-with-ecma-open-office-xml-msooxml

5) Dual Standards: More Choice or Less? - http://osacademy.hosting.amaze.nl:9090/odformat/repository/white-papers/dual-standards-2013-more-choice-or-less

6) Achieving Openness: a closer look at ODF & OOXML - http://www.odfalliance.org/resources/Achieving_Openness.pdf

Germany's Governing Coalition Considering ODF As Means To Open Competition In the Market for Office Productivity Suites

According to Heise Online's reporting from the LinuxTag 2007 conference held in Berlin May 30-June 2, the governing coalition in Germany is considering a mandate for open standards in general and ODF in particular. Key goals are improving the competitive situation and strengthening the position of smaller companies. According to the article, the governing coalition sees ODF as a standard that can help increase competition in the office productivity market. 

Heise Online (de) - http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/90460 

Denmark Decides On Trial Period for Both ODF and OOXML in 2008; Parliamentary Evaluation To Follow in 2009

Following up on the passage of a law (B103) by the Danish Parliament on June 2, 2006 requiring the use of open standards in the public sector, Denmark's Minister of Science, Helge Sander, after lengthy negotiations with the IT spokespersons of the Danish Parliament, announced a plan making both ODF and OOXML obligatory for a one-year trial period in 2008. During this period the public authorities should be able to receive both ODF and OOXML, and new purchases should be able to handle at least one. The trial period will be evaluated in the first six months of 2009 by a third party, with a view towards a new evaluation by the parliament. 

Danish Gov't Announcement (dk) - http://videnskabsministeriet.dk/site/forside/nyheder/pressemeddelelser/2007/vigtigt-politisk-fremskridt-for-aabne-standarder

Swiss Scientific Body Recommends ODF

The Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW) has endorsed ODF. Noting the support that exists for ODF in 20+ commercial applications, SATW recommended its use in Switzerland in both the private and public sector as well as in education. 

SATW (de) - http://www.satw.ch/aktuell/odf
NZZ(Krieg der Standards) - http://www.nzz.ch/2007/06/20/ft/articleF9VMC.html

New Applications Support for ODF

1) OpenOffice.org for Mac OS X: The development version of OpenOffice.org for Mac is now available for download.
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/download/aqua.html#bittorrent 

Upcoming ODF-Related Conferences/Events

Aug. 5-9, 2007
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Annual Meeting - Boston, MA
http://www.ncsl.org/annualmeeting/registration.htm

Sep. 19-21, 2007
OpenOffice.org Annual International Conference (OOoCon 2007)- Barcelona, Spain
http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/

Sep. 19-21, 2007
EU 4th Ministerial eGovernment Conference - Lisbon, Portugal
http://www.megovconf-lisbon.gov.pt/

Oct. 15-16, 2007
Government Open Source Conference (GOSCON 2007) - Portland, Oregon
Call for Speakers (July 20 deadline)- http://goscon.org/node/466
Conference Site - http://goscon.org/

Nov. 12-15, 2007
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
http://www.igfbrazil2007.br/index.htm

New Alliance Members

The Alliance now includes 412 member organization in 52 countries. Please welcome the following new members: City of Freiburg (Germany); S&T - Sistemas e Tecnologia Informtica,Ld (Portugal); OpenQuest - Sistemas de Informao, Lda (Portugal); Jaspal Kaur Public School of Delhi (India); Association of Public ICT Tools Access Providers (India); Compugen Inc. (Canada); Janmedia Interactive (USA, Poland); Abiss.gr (Greece); Patchcom Services (Ireland); Informedia Technologies (India); SC Lightway Software SRL (Romania); Consulting1x1 (Germany); and VIRTUA, s.l. (Spain).

ODF In the News

New York state to debate open document format legislation
Eric Lai, ComputerWorldUK, June 12, 2007
http://www.computerworlduk.com/technology/operating-systems/nix/news/index.cfm?newsid=3447

10 Downing Street Talks Document Formats
Glyn Moody: open source, open genomics, open content; 07 June 2007
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2007/06/10-downing-street-talks-document.html

Some Journals Rejecting Office 2007 Format
Slashdot; Posted by kdawson on Saturday June 02, @08:15PM
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/02/2119253

Comparing OpenDocument (ODF) with MS-XML (OOXML/EOOXML) - and why Multiple Competing Standards are a Bad Idea
David A. Wheeler's Blog; Tue, 05 Jun 2007
http://www.dwheeler.com/blog/2007/06/05/#odf-msxml-ooxml-compare

In Other Words, Open Formats Surging Ahead
Illuminata Perspectives; June 4th, 2007 at 10:01 am by Jonathan Eunice
http://www.illuminata.com/perspectives/?p=318

ODF and Web 2.0
CIO; By Bernard Golden Wed, Jun 6, 2007 13:37 EDT
http://advice.cio.com/bernard_golden/odf_and_web_2_0

Microsoft Lobbies Legislatures to Kill ODF Bills: Time to Tackle The Issue Elsewhere
IT Business Edge; Posted by Ken Hardin on June 4, 2007 at 2:42 pm
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/bpi/?p=493

The Pointless Office Converter Delay
eWeek Microsoft Watch; May 29, 2007 10:28 PM
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/business_applications/the_pointless_office_converter_delay.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535

Connecting Military Nets Through Open Source Collaboration
eCommerce Times; By Henry S. Kenyon; 05/30/07 4:00 AM PT
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/iHK5ZQv6Zpc8PM/Connecting-Military-Nets-Through-Open-Source-Collaboration.xhtml

Google to launch Powerpoint rival
By John Fontana, Network World, 15 June 2007
http://www.techworld.com/applications/news/index.cfm?newsID=9172&pagtype=all

Ubuntu distributor Canonical to not enter agreement with Microsoft
By Justin Mann, TechSpot.com; Published: June 18, 2007, 10:58 AM EST
http://www.techspot.com/news/25745-ubuntu-distributor-canonical-to-not-enter-agreement-with-microsoft.html

OpenOffice Sports All-Around Improvements
eWEEK; By Tiffany Maleshefski
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2146421,00.asp 

Marino Marcich 
ODF Alliance 
1090 Vermont Avenue, NW, 6th Floor 
Washington, DC 20005 
Direct Line: 202-789-4450 
Main Switchboard: 202-289-7442 
Fax: 202-289-7097 
Email: mmarcich at odfalliance.org                     

www.odfalliance.org

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donna benjamin - executive director
http://www.creativecontingencies.com/
ph +61 3 9326 9985 | mob +61 418 310 414
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