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Microsoft, where did you get those data about OpenDocument?
,----[ Quote ]
| I already explained in another article that
| open file formats are essential to save
| money in Public Administrations and make
| them more efficient and that the right
| choice for office document is the
| OpenDocument Format (ODF).
|
| Since I regularly follow these themes, in
| September 2009 I received this request from
| outside Italy:
|
| I have read in a report that:
| "According to Microsoft Italian
| regional authorities have examined ODF,
| but proposal for adopting ODF as the
| mandatory standard have been rejected"
| (translated by the sender of the
| message). This fact probably comes from
| this Microsoft paper. And we are trying
| to fact check it... can you help?
|
| Back then I knew, just as I know today,
| that there is no law or regulation in
| Italy, not even at the city level, that
| mandates ODF as the only accepted format
| for office documents, regardless of the
| context. What I did come across in the last
| year, instead, were cases where nobody
| seemed to know about ODF or law proposals
| that, albeit unvoluntarily, may make the
| situation even worse. However, I did not
| remember ever reading about proposals of
| that kind.
`----
http://stop.zona-m.net/digiworld/microsoft-where-did-you-get-those-data-about-opendocument
Cash for software clunkers? No, thanks, unless it promotes Free Software
,----[ Quote ]
| Replacing a software program with its
| latest version, that is continuing to do
| the same things as before in a computer
| window with a different color, would do
| little to solve the italian ICT crisis.
| However, thinking about it, maybe there is
| a way to "dismiss software clunkers" that
| may bring lots of work to italian
| programmers and make their customers and
| all taxpayers save much more money than any
| other incentive program. What if the
| Government said "within 2/3 years all
| Public Administrations will cease to
| accept, produce, archive or distribute new
| digital documents in closed formats, since
| they create so many problems, and to use
| proprietary digital protocols".
|
| The italian Government already considers
| closed the formats of Microsoft Office and
| those of many other programs currently used
| by italian PAs. Therefore, probably this
| approach would not be loved by Assinform
| members like Microsoft: in 2007 Assinform
| had even stated in a press release that all
| technical standards on the market should be
| considered equally valid, without
| prejudices. This, however, is the same
| "file format neutrality" that Microsoft
| promotes without giving enough information.
|
| Imposing certain obligations on the italian
| PAs is like imposing it on every
| organization or individual that must
| communicate with them. Sure, doing so would
| cause a sort of earthquake, but one that
| would have, at least in the medium/long
| term, beneficial consequences both for
| italian programmers and for the italian
| economy as a whole. Because the obligation
| to only use open formats and protocols
| would not just create a lot of real work.
| Due to their own nature, these technologies
| would make it possible for all ICT
| companies, regardless of their size, to
| compete on a fair ground, without paying
| royalties abroad. Open formats and
| protocols would also allow all public and
| private users to use the software they
| really need, not the one that somebody else
| wants them to buy. I'll welcome a "cash for
| software clunkers" program, but only if
| cash will only be given to organizations
| that will commit to stop production of
| documents in proprietary formats.
`----
http://stop.zona-m.net/node/130
Recent:
More than 100 candidates to Italian regional elections support Free Software
,----[ Quote ]
| At least on paper, thanks to CaroCandidato,
| Free Software may have a voice this year in
| many of the regional councils assisting the
| governors. As of March 17th, the 2010
| edition of the campaign has already
| enlisted more than 100 candidates from all
| parties. Citizens visiting the website can
| easily find, sorted by party or electoral
| district, which regional candidates have
| signed the Pact for these elections.
`----
http://stop.zona-m.net/node/124
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