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ES: Open Source looks to eGovernment
,----[ Quote ]
| The new action plan gives top priority to ensuring that Open Source users
| have equal access to eGovernment. Part of that drive will be a series of
| studies and reports on electronic filing, process improvement, transparency
| and electronic billing. These will be linked to Spain’s Law on Citizens’
| Electronic Access to Public Services.
|
| [...]
|
| Currently, CENATIC is working on Open Source applications for XBRL, a
| language for document exchange between administrations. Its interim
| conclusion is that there are viable Open Source solutions for financial
| document exchange between public administrations, small and medium-sized
| enterprises and the tax and regulatory authorities.
`----
http://www.epractice.eu/document/488
There's also this (secret trade talks cannot exist in democracy):
Access to EU documents: not enough transparency, says Ombudsman
,----[ Quote ]
| Tony Bunyan, of the NGO Statewatch, expressed astonishment that documents
| relating to negotiations between the European Union and the United States
| could not be accessed. "The situation is getting ridiculous. We have growing
| problems to access documents from third countries at the Council", he said,
| adding that these were mainly US documents on negotiations with the EU on the
| area of Freedom, Security and Justice. It often seemed that the Council was
| hiding US documents not because the content was controversial in itself but
| rather in order to conceal the major influence that the US government has on
| EU legislation, he suggested. "It's as if the United States were the 28th
| Member State of the Union".
`----
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=IM-PRESS&reference=20071126IPR13593&secondRef=0&language=EN
Recent:
The Tragedy of the Anti-Commons
,----[ Quote ]
| Misapplication of “value for money” requirements when purchasing software
| results in poor value for money - Government purchasing policies for software
| tend to support the creation of monopolies.
|
| Government purchasing has effects on the price paid by citizens for the
| product purchased. In some cases purchasing produces volume which permits
| scale discounts and therefore a net benefit to citizens who also purchase the
| product. However, in the case of lock in software* Government purchasing can
| create a monopoly in the software which leads to increased costs for citizen
| purchasers and a net detriment for society as a whole. It is not appropriate
| for value for money policies to be assessed on a per acquisition basis when
| software is being acquired. Doing so will almost certainly create net costs
| for the community when considered in the aggregate.
|
| [...]
|
| Government procurement can both create and reinforce a monopoly in goods and
| services which it is acquiring. Anecdotal evidence suggests that bureaucrats
| look at “value for money” type formulae and assess it against the cost to
| Government on a purchase-by-purchase basis. This approach is fine in respect
| of goods and services which are easily substitutable (such as hammers,
| screws, cars etc). In respect of goods which are specifically designed to
| prevent substitutability - eg devices which are not designed to be
| interoperable it is an extremely hazardous approach. If those goods also tend
| to be a natural monopoly (such as software in general, but particularly that
| which is designed not to be interoperable) this approach is absolutely the
| wrong one.
`----
http://brendanscott.wordpress.com/2008/04/23/tradegy-of-the-anti-commons/
It's not about choosing, but about having a choice.
,----[ Quote ]
| Yes. Try to understand that fantastic quote from Yasmin Mahmood, Microsoft
| Malaysia's (current) Managing Director. This was reported by Tech&U, which is
| currently leading the pack as the most reliable source of Microsoft
| propaganda. What's wonderful is that they quote Yasmin word for word without
| questioning what she really means. It makes hilarious reading.
`----
http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/04/its-not-about-c.html
Old:
The truth about Microsoft Office compatibility
,----[ Quote ]
| The Microsoft Office product team rationale for designing such a poorly
| engineered file format known as OOXML is that, according to public statements
| they made, they do this not because they want to advance the state of the art
| in Office document models, but rather because they have to bring the
| two-decade worth of legacy and bugged if not broken features into the future.
|
| They have a commercial reason to do so. According to their numbers, there is
| a 400,000,000 user install base. But with the introduction of the new file
| format OOXML and the accompanying application that they rushed out the door
| in order to ship in line with Windows Vista, is it true that Office 2007 is
| Microsoft's best thing since sliced bread when it comes to compatibility?
`----
http://ooxmlisdefectivebydesign.blogspot.com/2008/02/truth-about-microsoft-office.html
Eliminating the 'Software Tax'
,----[ Quote ]
| European governments, in particular, have spent billions of dollars every
| year in “software taxes” – in the form of licensing fees – all for the right
| to continue to use proprietary document formats that don’t allow
| implementation of alternative programs, and ultimately restrict access to
| government documents by citizens who do not have the licensed software. As a
| result, governments have been forced to continue using the same program, and
| in business, we call that a “barrier to exit.”
|
| So, imagine receiving and opening a document, having the ability to read and
| edit that document, all from a program different from that in which it was
| created. Now imagine being able to send that document to anyone in the world.
| That is the goal of the OpenDocument Format (ODF).
`----
http://opensource.sys-con.com/read/498422_p.htm
South Africa, Netherlands and Korea striding toward ODF
,----[ Quote ]
| France is making the strongest move to ODF and its native office suite,
| OpenOffice. Nearly half a million government employees are being switched to
| OpenOffice.
`----
http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php?id=1351236114&rid=-50
ODF Alliance hails record growth in application support for ODF
,----[ Quote ]
| In total, there are now more than two dozen ODF-supporting text, spreadsheet,
| and presentation applications announced in the past three months
`----
http://enterpriselinuxlog.blogs.techtarget.com/2007/10/26/odf-alliance-hails-record-growth-application-support-for-odf/
ODF a National Standard in Korea
,----[ Quote ]
| The proposal for ODF to be accepted as a Malaysian Standard by SIRIM,
| Department of Standards Malaysia and ultimately the Minister of Science,
| Technology & Innovation is dormant for more than a year now. Four months
| after the Malaysian proposal went to sleep, Italy made ODF a National
| Standard. Eight months after that, Korea has followed suit. With this Korean
| news, perhaps the Malaysian proposal will be awakened.
`----
http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2007/11/odf-a-national-.html
Obama Voices Support for ODF
,----[ Quote ]
| OpenDocument Format supporters are welcoming presidential hopeful Sen. Barack
| Obama's promise to put government data online in universally accessible
| formats should he be elected.ODF a National Standard in Korea
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2219248,00.asp
Open IT has arrived: US presidential candidates campaigning for it
,----[ Quote ]
| When U.S. presidential candidates start promoting their open-source and
| open-document platforms, you know that the open-source movement has finally
| arrived.
`----
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9820884-16.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
South Africa adopts ODF as govt standard
,----[ Quote ]
| The South African government yesterday announced the adoption of OpenDocument
| Format (ODF) as a standard for government communications.
`----
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=$id&src=digg
Malaysia formally embraces open doc format
,----[ Quote ]
| The Malaysian government today announced plans to adopt open standards and
| the Open Document Format (ODF) within the country's public sector.
|
| [...]
|
| In July this year, Japan became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region
| to embrace open software standards. Last August, the United Nations urged
| countries in the region to adopt the ODF.
`----
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,62030781,00.htm
Government of Japan Embraces Open Software Standards
,----[ Quote ]
| The OpenDocument Format Alliance (ODF Alliance), the leading organization
| advocating for openness and accessibility to government documents and
| information, today congratulated Japan for adopting a policy under which
| government ministries and agencies will solicit bids from software vendors
| whose products support internationally recognized open standards.
`----
http://www.govtech.com/gt/126612?topic=117674
Netherlands Picks ODF
,----[ Quote ]
| Frank Heemskerk, Minister of Economic Affairs, announced today that ODF will
| be the standard for reading, publishing and the exchange of information for
| all governmental organisations. The deadline is January 2009.
`----
http://gotze.eu/2007/09/netherlands-picks-odf.html
Opendocument_adoption
,----[ Quote ]
| Contents
|
| * 1 United States
| o 1.1 Massachusetts
| + 1.1.1 References
| o 1.2 Other states and organizations in the US
| + 1.2.1 References
| * 2 Europe
| o 2.1 EU Definition of an open standard
| o 2.2 United Kingdom
| + 2.2.1 Bristol City Council
| o 2.3 Belgium
| o 2.4 Finland
| o 2.5 Slovakia
| * 3 Other governments
| o 3.1 Australia
| o 3.2 India
| o 3.3 Japan
| o 3.4 Malaysia
| o 3.5 Peru
| o 3.6 Vietnam
| o 3.7 Other
| * 4 See also
| * 5 References
`----
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opendocument_adoption
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