More US states mull OpenDocument move
Sunday, February 11, 2007
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.
The one-page bill, HF0176, was introduced to the state's
legislative Committee on Governmental Operations, Reform,
Technology and Elections on January 17 by Representative Paul Thissen.
Representatives Melissa Hortman and Steve Simon, later joined as co-authors
of the bill.
If it passes the vote, Minnesota Preservation of State
Documents Act will go into effect on July 1, 2008.
The Texas bill SB 446, authored by state Senator Juan Hinojosa,
was filed with the state Senate on February 5. That act, if
passed, would take effect on December 1, 2007, but agencies would
be given until September 1, 2008 to comply.
Technorati Tags: OpenDucoment, ODF
Open XML vs. ODF: Document Format Wars Rage On
Saturday, February 10, 2007
There are new movements in the ongoing war over document formats this week, with Microsoft facing new challenges and Sun Microsystems possibly facing new opportunities.
As Microsoft encounters resistance in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) process of approving its Open XML document format, Sun is moving to advance the competing OpenDocument Format (ODF). Sun announced a conversion plug-in for Microsoft Office 2003 on Thursday as the two formats continue to compete to become the XML-based file format of choice for office documents everywhere.
Following several key losses to OpenOffice.org, including one in Massachusetts that made headlines and highlighted the document-format debate, Microsoft has been attempting to protect use of its Office suite from open-source competition by offering its own open document format....
