Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 11th Feb 2007 15:06 UTC, submitted by flanque
Minnesota and Texas may become the next US states to adopt the OpenDocument Format as the required standard for their agencies, thanks to two state bills currently up for vote. The Minnesota Preservation of State Documents Act, if passed, would require that all documents 'including text, spreadsheets and presentations' of the state be created in ODF. The XML-based document format is a rival to Microsoft's Office technology.
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Member since:2007-01-18
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.
Member since:2006-11-02
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.
Member since:
2005-07-07
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.