ODF Alliance Newsletter 20 July 2007

The latest ODF Alliance newsletter is out. Highlights include Japan's Interoperability Framework recognizing ODF, Kerala state in India officially adopting ODF  and more news on the flaws of OOXML.

ODF Alliance Newsletter 20 July 2007

You can download a free PDF version of the newsletter: http://www.odfalliance.org/mail_list.php. Please feel free to forward to whom it may be of interest.

Massachusetts: Last Day To Submit Comments On Proposal To Include OOXML In Enterprise Architecture

Massachusetts' Information Technology Department (ITD) has released the next draft of its Enterprise Technical Reference Model (ETRM) for public comment. Among the changes is the inclusion of the Ecma-376 Office Open XML Formats (OOXML). The Alliance strongly urges its members to provide comments, which should be submitted to standards@state.ma.us no later than 20 July 2007.

Enterprise Technical Reference Model v.4.0 Public Review Draft -
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=itdsubtopic&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Policies%2c+Standards+%26+Guidance&L2=Drafts+for+Review&sid=Aitd

Groklaw - http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070712160114539

The ConsortiumInfo.org Standards Blog -
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20070709085538784

Alliance Comments – http://www.odfalliance.org

<NO>OOXML Petition Reaches 20,000+ Signatures; Ibero-American Campaign Launched Against OOXML

The <NO>OOXML petition, now in 26 languages, has reached 20,000 signatures. As the 2 September 2007 deadline for national standards bodies to submit their votes on OOXML approaches, the Ibero-American campaign against OOXML at ISO has been launched.

Sign the <NO>OOXML Petition - http://www.noooxml.org/petition

Ibero-American Campaign web site http://meneame.net/story/campana-iberoamericana-officeopenxml-no-debe-ser-iso-29500

<NO>OOXML in Spanish - http://www.openxml.info/

Japan's Interoperability Framework Recognizes ODF

Japan adopted a policy under which government ministries and agencies will solicit bids from software vendors whose products support internationally recognized open standards. Previously, government agencies could ask bidders to submit bids based on whether their products offered functions comparable to particular software suites. The interoperability framework, which takes effect immediately, gives preference to procuring products that adhere to open standards, and which interoperate easily with other software.

Alliance Release - http://www.odfalliance.org/press/Release20070710.pdf

Kerala (India) Officially Adopts ODF

Kerala, a state in soutwestern India, has now officially adopted its information-technology policy,
which states that "[o]pen standards like Unicode and Open Document Format and Open Architectures will be followed in e-governance projects to avoid total dependence on select vendors." The "Information Technology Policy: towards an inclusive knowledge society," was published in January 2007 and the subject of a lengthy public consultation process.

Kerala ICT Policy 2007 - http://www.keralaitmission.org/web/main/ITPolicy-2007.pdf

New York, Minnesota Enact Legislation Calling for Study of Electronic Document Formats

New York became the second state, along with Minnesota, to enact legislation requiring the study of electronic document formats. Both bills require the states to examine how electronic documents can be created, maintained, exchanged, and preserved in a manner that encourages appropriate government control, access, choice, and interoperability. After a public consultation process, findings and recommendations are to be reported to the respective legislatures no later than January 15, 2008.

New York Bill - http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A08961
Minnesota Bill (see section 77) -
http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/getpub.php?type=law&year=2007&sn=0&num=148

New Applications Support for ODF
Sun's ODF Plugin 1.0 for Microsoft Office is now available allowing users of MS Office to import and export to ODF.

Malte Timmerman's Blog - http://blogs.sun.com/malte/entry/more_details_about_sun_s

New Alliance Members

Please welcome the following new members: Gubro-PR (Brazil); University of the Philippines Linux Users' Group (the Philippines); CBMES - Corpo de Bombeiros Militar do Espírito Santo (Brazil); 4Linux (Brazil); DBA Company Informática Ltda. (Brazil); Futuro Sistemas (Brazil); IBAMA - Inst. Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente (Brazil); 18 de Abril Alimentos Ltda (Brazil); FAMEG - Metropolitan  College of Guaramirim (Brazil); Xensoft Labs (India); ManeelGrover.Com (India); and Zando Computer SRL (Romania).

ODF-Related Conferences/Events

Aug. 5-9, 2007
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Annual Meeting - Boston, MA
http://www.ncsl.org/annualmeeting/registration.htm

Sep. 19-21, 2007
OpenOffice.org Annual International Conference (OOoCon 2007) - Barcelona, Spain
http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/

Sep. 19-21, 2007
EU 4th Ministerial eGovernment Conference - Lisbon, Portugal
http://www.megovconf-lisbon.gov.pt/

Oct. 15-16, 2007
Government Open Source Conference (GOSCON 2007) - Portland, Oregon
http://goscon.org/

Nov. 12-15, 2007
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
http://www.igfbrazil2007.br/index.htm

ODF In the News

Microsoft Faces EU Probe on Word, Excel Dominance, People Say
By Matthew Newman, Bloomberg.com; July 20, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aR9bHOp5bm3A&refer=europe

V1 committee gives thumbs down to Open XML doc spec
That means the U.S. could reject it as an open standard next month
Eric Lai, ComputerWorld; July 16, 2007
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9027164

Standards Org Deals a Blow Against Microsoft's OOXML Format
By Michael Calore, Wired Blog Network; July 16, 2007
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/07/standards-org-d.html

Microsoft OOXML spec 'dangerously flawed'
Techworld.com 07/11/2007; Matthew Broersma
http://www.itworld.com/App/070711msooxml/

Integration key issue in Massachusetts review of Open XML
By John Fontana, Network World, 07/05/07
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/070907-integration-key-issue.html

Ecma to create standard out of Microsoft's PDF rival InfoWorld
By Elizabeth Montalbano; June 29, 2007
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/29/Ecma-to-create-standard-from-Microsoft-PDF-rival_1.html

Reviewing the "Accessibility of Ecma Office Open XML File Formats"
Peter Korn's Weblog; July 03 2007
http://blogs.sun.com/korn/entry/reviewing_the_a_href_http

Mark Shuttleworth: ODF Beats MSOOXML
Solid Office
http://www.solidoffice.com/archives/571