http://www.osnews.com/story/17229/More_US_States_Mull_OpenDocument_Move Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:57:23 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://osnews.com/thread?211535 http://osnews.com/thread?211535 It only seems appropriate that an ISO certified standard file format be used by government. Lets hope these bills pass, forcing Microsoft to naively support ODF opening the office playing field for all users. Sun, 11 Feb 2007 16:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Seth Quarrier) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?211546 http://osnews.com/thread?211546 What's that? Is it a bird? A Plane?
No, It's Microsoft! And what's that? They've suddenly grown a great interest in the law making process? Why that's great; We need all the help we can get! Sun, 11 Feb 2007 16:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Kroc) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?211549 http://osnews.com/thread?211549 forcing Microsoft to naively support ODF

Did you mean naively or natively? Sun, 11 Feb 2007 16:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Larz) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?211552 http://osnews.com/thread?211552 Lets hope these bills pass, forcing Microsoft to naively support ODF opening the office playing field for all users

Actually this is only one option and from most people's point of view the better one.

Another option, and likely from Microsoft's point of view the better one, is to circumvent the spirit of the law but following its letters: by pushing even harder for their format to become an official ISO standard. Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (anda_skoa) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?211563 http://osnews.com/thread?211563 Perfect government accountability. :-) Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (n4cer) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?211633 http://osnews.com/thread?211633 Very true. My guess is we can start expecting Microsoft to start greasing the pockets of many politicians to keep OpenDoc out.

Kind of a side thought here, but I always get a chuckle out the government. One day they sue Microsoft for being a monopoly and not playing fair. The next day they tell you that their websites are only compatible with Microsoft IE or that they only accept Microsoft Office document formats.

I'm sure OpenDoc will have a fight on it's hands trying to supplant Microsoft's document format. Sun, 11 Feb 2007 21:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (systyrant) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?211665 http://osnews.com/thread?211665 Good call, I wish my brain would spell natively. I meant natively but it seems that the edit has timed out. I guess that is why re-reading comments before submission is a good thing (for some reason aspell doesn't seem to have 'natively' in its dictanary, maybe that was the issue.) Sun, 11 Feb 2007 22:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Seth Quarrier) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?211831 http://osnews.com/thread?211831 Nor does it have 'dictionary' in its dictionary, apparently. Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (maxx_730) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?211835 http://osnews.com/thread?211835 Note that OpenDoc died a horrible, painful death at the hands of Steve Jobs in 1997.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDoc

ODF, on the other hand, is alive and well. Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Constantine XVI) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?211836 http://osnews.com/thread?211836 I forgot about that. In the future I will stick to ODF. Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (systyrant) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?211941 http://osnews.com/thread?211941 The XML-based document format is a rival to Microsoft's Office technology.

Actually, the ODF format is an ISO approved international standard, and microsoft's confusingly named format is rivaling ODF. Although microsoft tries to turn its proprietary "Open" XML format into an open/international standard, it is not. See;
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2007011720521698

- hayalci Mon, 12 Feb 2007 21:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (hayalci) Comments