Open Malaysia

Although news about MSOOXML is popping up like crazy, leading up to today, 2nd of September 2007, the final day for balloting, we must not take our eyes off the purpose of this blog, which is the championing of truly open standards like the OpenDocument Format (ODF or ISO/IEC 26300). In The Register, burried in the avalanche of Microsoft's recent mischief in Europe and South America, it is reported that:

Russia's government has become the latest national institution to throw ODF a lifeline and potentially trip Microsoft up in the corridors of power.

The Russian Government has taken a step towards endorsing ODF through an e-government program that would mandate use of software that conforms to "widely used standards" in all government contracts.

It looks like Russia is joining the growing line of Governments who understand the utility of ODF and its true vendor neutral nature. The Malaysian Administration and Modernization Planning Unit (MAMPU) is also working towards this goal. The motives are similar: standardising on one standard to provide true vendor and technology neutrality and subsequently real choice to their citizens and government departments in which productivity suite to use.

According to the Russian Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications "within the project to form an e-government concept in the Russian Federation, support of ISO/IEC 26300: 2006 is planned."

The move has been welcomed by the Open Document Format Alliance, which said in a statement that Russia is "sending a message worldwide that software should be affordable, innovative and accessible, now and for the foreseeable future."

I wonder if Microsoft has far too much trouble dealing with the backlash with the current MSOOXML vote, or will they manage to send in their bulldogs: CompTIA or the ISC (Institute for Software Choice) to dictate what Russians REALLY need to do.

In the meantime, for today, Happy balloting!

yk.

ps. Thanks to Roy Schestowitz in finding this gem.