If you haven't heard already, ODF is a National Standard in South Korea for a couple of months now. See the news linked below (also transcribed) -- Ditesh, urr... would you be able to translate to English?

[Update 14 Nov 2007: I just appended the English translation after the piece in Korean below. Thanks to YH Woo for the translation.]

The proposal for ODF to be accepted as a Malaysian Standard by SIRIM, Department of Standards Malaysia and ultimately the Minister of Science, Technology & Innovation is dormant for more than a year now. Four months after the Malaysian proposal went to sleep, Italy made ODF a National Standard. Eight months after that, Korea has followed suit. With this Korean news, perhaps the Malaysian proposal will be awakened.

The Korean news (thanks to my colleague ,YH Woo):

http://www.dt.co.kr/contents.html?article_no=2007082802010760600004

ODF `오피스 문서` KS로 제정
국내 유일…공공기관 등 문서표준 채택 영향 미칠 듯

개방형 프로세스로 개발
작년 5월 ISO 표준 채택

오픈 도큐먼트 포맷(ODF)이 국내 오피스 문서 형식 KS로 제정됐다.

기술표준원은 개방형 표준 문서 형식인 `오픈 도큐먼트 포맷(ODF)'을 한국산업규격(KS)으로 제정했다고 27일 밝혔다.

워드프로세서, 스프레드시트, 프레젠테이션 등 오피스 애플리케이션의 문서 형식에 대해 KS가 제정된 것은 이번이 처음으로, 이번 KS 제정에 따라 ODF는 국가 표준의 지위를 갖게 됐다.

KS가 강제 준수사항이 아니기 때문에 KS로 제정됐다고 해서 사용자가 이를 지켜야 할 의무는 없지만, 오피스 문서 형식 분야의 유일한 KS라는 상징성으로 인해 향후 정부 공공기관 등에서 사용할 문서 표준을 채택할 때 영향을 줄 수 있다는 점에서 의미가 적지 않다는 것이 전문가들의 시각이다.

확장성표기언어(XML)를 기반으로 한 ODF는 문서의 콘텐츠가 특정 애플리케이션이나 벤더의 파일형식으로부터 독립되는 것을 목표로 삼고 있다. 이에 따라 전 세계 사용자 커뮤니티로부터 의견을 수렴해 개방적이고 투명한 표준화 프로세스를 통해 개발되고 있는 것이 특징으로, 지난해 5월 국제 표준화 기구인 ISO로부터 파일 형식 표준으로 정식 승인을 받아 위상이 크게 강화됐다.

당시 한국을 비롯해 투표권을 가진 23개 회원국이 모두 찬성표를 던져 아무 이견 없이 ISO 표준으로 채택됐다.

기술표준원 관계자는 "ODF는 여러 벤더가 참여하는 개방 정신을 구현하면서 특정 벤더에 종속되지 않는다는 점에서 이견 없이 ISO 표준으로 채택됐으며, 이번에 KS로 제정된 것도 ODF의 이같은 특징이 크게 작용했다"고 말했다.

강동식기자 dskang@

[English translation below:]

.
28 August 2007
Microsoft bashed in OOXML shens (and comparing loos)
By Richi Jennings
A digest of blog posts alleging Microsoft improprieties on the ISO ballot for OOXML, including shenanigans in Sweden and Norway.
Computerworld: http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/6099

27 August 2007

Open standards dilemma/Technology neutrality in question
By Tech&U Team

The article still got it confused by saying that this Malaysian public sector adoption of open standards is for eventual migration to the open source platform (see first paragraph of the main article).

Anyway, detractors are howling that the Malaysian Government adoption of ODF is against "technology neutrality."

Not so, say open standards advocates.

• Malaysian National Computer Confederation:  "There are many software out there that support ODF, so having an open standard document format will be good for end users to choose the software of their preference."

• Malaysia Open Source Software Alliance: "All companies and organisations in Malaysia can choose to adopt open standards without paying any royalties. This is because standards are not applications, interoperability is guaranteed, and competition is spurred."

Malaysia NST emedia: http://www.emedia.com.my/TECH/Computimes/Highlight/20070827111240/wartrevamp

Malaysia NST Tech&U (Scanned copy below - click image for full view):

24 August 2007
The world's fastest-growing economies reject Microsoft
By Matt Assay
"First it was China. Now India and Brazil. The rout of Microsoft's Open Office XML (OOXML) standardization efforts is now essentially complete. When the world's fastest growing economies reject Microsoft, Microsoft has a problem."
CNet News: http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9765759-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

23 August 2007
Microsoft kills its ‘Get the Facts’ anti-Linux site
By Mary Jo Foley
"Microsoft has finally acknowledged that its anti-Linux site had gone past the point of usefulness.  On August 23, Microsoft pulled plug on the 'Get the Facts' site, replacing it with a new Windows Server 'Compare' site.  I heard earlier this year that Microsoft intended to kill off the Get the Facts site. But Microsoft told me, at that time, I should get my facts straight, and that there was no intent to do away with the site."
ZDNet: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/index.php?p=670

.

With thanks to my colleagues who have been compiling related articles on these, here's a selection of news, articles on ODF, OOXML and the open source scene over the last couple of weeks.

04 June 2007
In Other Words, Open Formats Surging Ahead
By Jonathan Eunice
The march of openness and open standards is progressing rapidly. This is causing Microsoft, the undisputed leader of the foregoing proprietary age and approach, to massively change its strategy and open up its own document format...
Illuminata Perspectives - http://www.illuminata.com/perspectives

04 June 2007
Microsoft Strikes A Deal With Linux Distributor Xandros
By Associated Press
Microsoft has persuaded a small Linux distributor to pay them patent royalties and to support Microsoft's ooXML document format.
San Jose Mercury News - http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_6058097?nclick_check=1

02 June 2007
Governing coalition to push for the adoption of open IT standards
Germany's "governing coalition would within the next two weeks submit a motion that would make open formats mandatory."  A legislator said that open formats refer to ODF, which "foster[s] competition between office applications."
Heise online - http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/90547

31 May 2007
The US OOXML discussion is public
By Bob Sutor
In a perfect world, we would know about and could see every committee email and every discussion regarding this and other standards deliberation. To the degree that the proceedings are closed, the standard is less open. ...
Bob Sutor's Open Blog - http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/index.php?p=1644

30 May 2007
A fight Microsoft can't win?
"If you can't beat 'em, tax 'em. That seems to be Microsoft's thinking in regard to the 'free and open-source software' movement."
Los Angeles Times - (registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-ed-microsoft30may30,1,4669333.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

30 May 2007
Canada requests OOXML comments
By Bob Sutor
The Standards Council of Canada is requesting comments from Canadians for the SCC's consideration of Microsoft's Office Open XML spec (OOXML) as an ISO standard. If you are eligible, you can leave your remarks from that page but you ...
Bob Sutor's IBM Blog - http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/index.php?p=1640

29 May 2007
A big surprise in your ISO standard
By Alex Neihaus
In a nutshell, ISO ain't open source. Far from it. The ISO is a super-bureaucracy of bureaucracies. Don't think for a minute that these standards-setting committees are like the open source projects which actually publish source code ...
3D Mojo - http://www.3dmojo.com/cad/a-big-surprise-in-your-iso-standard/2007/05/29/

29 May 2007
Norway Considers Using ODF, PDF Specs for National, Local Use; OOXML Lagging
"A Norwegian national hearing suggested making ODF and PDF compulsory for the Norwegian central government and recommended for use by local governments, but Office Open XML is not now under consideration..."
ICT Standardization - http://www.ictstandardization.com/news/200705/article20070577.html

26 May 2007
ODF en route to ANSI-dom
By Joel West(Joel West)
IBM's Bob Sutor -- who apparently believes in monopoly standards rather than competing standards -- sees efforts to provide choice as anti-consumer:. I believe the industry wants a common set of the fewest possible non-overlapping ...
Open IT Strategies - http://blog.openitstrategies.com/2007/05/odf-en-route-to-ansi-dom.html

26 May 2007
Bad Grace
By Rupert Goodwins
"despite its best efforts, Microsoft has been unable to integrate [ODF] properly with Office. Instead of having it as just another file format, to be opened, saved, converted, whatever, it has been shoehorned into its own strange, confined, ugly little world..."
ZDNet - http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10005378o-2000331777b,00.htm

Image above: Cover of Ecma's response to National Bodies' comments (click the above image to view the entire Ecma response document)

Continuing from my Part 4 and Yoon Kit's post highlighting the concerns raised by countries against the Microsoft-Ecma Office OpenXML (OOXML) standard, like Yoon Kit said, "...blog posts will review their [Ecma/Microsft] justifications and their explanations [in the Ecma response document]," so below are links to 2 reviews already:

• Walt Hucks (Opportunity Knocks): Ecma Responds
  
  Excerpt:
  
  Has anyone else noticed that they are recycling the same tired old argument that Microsoft’s blogging team has been using for months? Wouldn’t you think that they could come up with something new? I’m sure that they had their best minds working on this with Ecma International, trying to come up with a rebuttal and perhaps even a proposal for modification to smooth over some of the rough spots.

• Edward Macnaghten (Free Software Magazine): When is a standard not a standard?
  
  Excerpt:
  
  I do not believe Microsoft are really interested in open standards, but just paying lip service to them. The history of the OOXML and ODF "discussions" supports this theory. OOXML is not as open as it's name applies: it ignores existing standards and it only fully caters for Microsoft Office programs making it near impossible for a competing product to use. By Microsoft's own admission it is simply an "XMLization" of existing closed .doc, .xls and .ppt formats. It should not be adopted by ISO, and certainly not "fast tracked".
  
  

While Malaysia moves into adoption of the ODF ISO/IEC 26300 International Standard, detractors claim that migration is expensive, and wasteful. On the contrary, there is cost savings!

Watch out, Malaysia, for these kind of words used by the detractors, with respect to adopting the standard:

• additional expense
• raised cost of document migration
• expensive transition
• negative economic impact to  industry
• investment to re-invest in training and re-tooling wasteful
• unnecessary cost to business
• raising cost to taxpayers

I've blogged about this before, showing case studies of cost savings realized from deploying office products based on the ODF ISO/IEC 26300 International Standard. I also highlighed the harder to quantify aspects, i.e. Sam Hiser's remarks:

"But what of the productivity gains -- the significant REVERSE COSTS / OPPORTUNITY GAINS -- from pushing desktop data into a format owned by the Commons? What of the budgetary control issuing from ODF's release of the Monopoly's pernicious lock (upgrade decision processes become internal)? What of the smoother, faster document turn-around?

The ODF Alliance has just published the same case studies with additional commentary: Preliminary Cost Assessments of Migrations to ODF-Supporting Applications

Marino Marcich of the ODF Alliance estimates:

“From the early analysis performed by a wide range of governments, it is very realistic to expect at least a savings of about 60 percent using ODF. And with the growing range of commercial and open source applications supporting ODF, there are more choices than ever for capturing those cost savings."

We refuse to believe the detractors' FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) statement of "increased cost" and  the like. The longer we delay, the longer we get to the opportunity of gaining from the savings.

Malaysia should then grab the opportunity right away!

Below is the transcript of the ODF Alliance's migration cost assessments:

While the effort to recognize ODF, the international standard ISO/IEC 26300 as a Malaysian Standard is in progress, there may be concerns that Malaysia is "rushing too fast" as a country into adopting this international standard and that there won't be any support if we were to deploy it locally. This fortunately is not the case, as there has  been a large market share of ODF-implemented products in governmental bodies to date.

If you were to follow this link, you see a list of decisions by government bodies around the world to adopt office software supporting the ISO/IEC 26300 standard. The list is far from comprehensive and is only the tip of a very large iceberg.

The link also says that the Yankee Group in October 2005 put the OpenOffice.org market share among small and medium businesses at 19 per cent, up from the 6 per cent figure reported by Jupiter Research less than two years previously. One might suspect that software supporting the ISO/IEC 26300 today has a larger market share in government offices than among small and medium businesses.

The link describes the following countries/states/regions/cities which have adopted the international standard:

These nations are already enjoying the benefits of sovereignty, cost savings and increased choice in their applications to use.

Is Malaysia rushing? Or are we refusing delay, expediting opportunities? Leader or follower, we are certainly not alone!

The deal between Microsoft and Novell includes work on ODF:

"The two companies will now work together on ways for OpenOffice and Microsoft Office users to best share documents and both will take steps to make translators available to improve interoperability between Open XML and OpenDocument Formats."

(From Novell's FAQs)

Some links:

NetworkWord.com -- Microsoft, Novell partner on historic Windows, Linux interoperability deal
Linux.com -- Microsoft and Novell partner up

Commentary from Groklaw -- Novell Sells Out

No doubt there will be a lot more coverage on this development. Interesting to see what the two companies will really do with this deal.

Via Bob Sutor's Open Blog, How the anti-open game is being played in Europe, see the Techworld article Leaked letter warns of open source 'threat to eco-system'.
Excerpt:
"A leaked letter to the European Commission has revealed the extent of lobbying by proprietary software groups to prevent the widespread adoption of open-source software."

Watch out - this kind of FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) messages may find its way to Malaysia.

[Update 18 October 2006, 03:45 PM:
Related blog posts:
27 Sep -- Open Malaysia blog: Appeal of Neutral Software Approach. A rebuttal.
15 Oct -- Rob Weir - An Antic Disposition: When language goes on holiday]

[Update 20 October 2006, 2:07 AM:
More comments:
19 Oct -- ZDNet: Microsoft-sponsored lobbyist to the EU: It’s a mistake to floss us]

I missed posting in this blog the previous ODF Alliance newsletter dated 19 September 2006, but it can be found at this link. The latest newsletter below includes items not recently mentioned in this Open Malaysia blog, e.g.  the ODF Day at aKademy 2006. Read on:

ODF Alliance Newsletter 9 October 2006

French Government Report Urges Europe-Wide Adoption of ODF
In a report prepared for Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, French National Assembly Deputy Bernard Carayon called for a law requiring use of ODF by French government departments when they create or distribute documents, and recommends ODF for official document exchange at the European level.

Carayon Report (french) - http://lesrapports.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/BRP/064000728/0000.pdf
Info World - http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/10/03/HNfrenchodf_1.html
ZDNet UK - http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39283880,00.htm

OpenDocument Day at aKademy Features Discussion of Status of ODF in European Public Administrations, ODF Test Suite and Developers Kit
Open Document Day at aKademy 2006, the annual meeting of Alliance member KDE, was held on Sep 26 in Dublin. The KDE desktop environment for Linux includes the ODF-supporting KOffice suite of applications (KWord, KSpread and KPresenter ). Keynote speaker Barbara Held from the European Commission spoke on the process and politics around technology standards in Europe. Prof. Lotzi Bölöni from the University of Central Florida spoke on some Intel-sponsored work his students are doing on an ODF Test Suite. Rob Weir from Alliance member IBM spoke on a proposal for an OpenDocument Developers Kit (ODDK).

ODF Day Release - http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061002/sfm056.html
Slides/Presentations - http://akademy2006.kde.org/codingmarathon/opendocumentday.php
ODF Test Suite - http://netmoc.cpe.ucf.edu/Projects/OpenDocument/TestSuite.html
Rob Weir Antic Disposition - http://www.robweir.com/blog/2006/10/in-dublins-fair-city.html

Image: Map of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA

In August, I blogged about Massachusetts proceeding with ODF by January 2007, citing Louis Gutierrez, CIO of their ITD (Information Technology Division) releasing the Massachuestts Mid-Year Statement Regarding ODF Implementation.

This week we learnt of CIO Gutierez sending in his resignation letter. How unfortunate. His reason for resignation has to do with issues of Massachusetts budgetting for the ITD initiatives. I await further developments in Massachusetts, but I am at least comforted by the quote from a Massachusetts spokesman, Felix Browne saying that Gutierez's departure will not derail the state's policy of adopting ODF as the state's default document format.

Selected links on Gutierez's resignation:

• Computerworld: Mass. CIO Louis Gutierrez resigns - He's upset about the state legislature's lack of funding for IT projects
• Bob Sutor's Open Blog: HR news from Massachusetts
• Andy Updergrove's Standards Blog: Louis Gutierrez Resigns: Deja Vu on Beacon Hill

But this week also brings cheer!

Vive le France! OK, so this year they disappointed me by losing in the final of the World Cup. But now I'm happy to learn that a report commissioned by the French Prime Minister has recommended that all government documents should be made available in ODF. France is also to ask other European nations to do the same.

And the report further recommends "the government fund a research center dedicated to open-source software security, and set up a system to help national and local government agencies exchange information about best practice in the use of open-source software."

Selected links:

• News.com: French government report lauds ODF
• Jeff Kaplan's Open ePolicy blog:  France Says: Vive le ODF! Vive Open Source!

Reported by Chin Wong from our neighbouring Philippines, a bill will be filed this week  requiring the Philippines Government to use FOSS (free/open source software) and open standards, except in "extraordinary circumstances."

Read about it in Chin Wong's blog post,
Bill requires open source use in govt
Excerpt:
"...the bill allows the use of proprietary software in government only when no open source alternatives are readily available, or when a proprietary system is already widely in use.

The bill also prohibits any government agency from procuring technology goods and services that are locked in to or dependent on a single vendor."

Commentary from Jeff Kaplan,
Mr. Gates, Tear Down This Wall
Excerpt:
"Laws requiring open source have been a cause of controversy in recent years. In the Open ePolicy Group's Roadmap for Open ICT Ecosytems, we recommended that people focus less on the software development model and more on actions that increase choice and competition.

Why? Because open ICT ecosystems are neither 100% open or closed; they are a mixed environment. With open standards as a foundation, specific software procurement should be driven by the business case and clear public policy needs.

From that perspective, much of the draft Phillipine legislation seems designed to build a critical mass of open ICT in its ecosystem. It will promote research in open source software, incorporate open source into the computer science curriculum in schools, and provide legal recognition for open source licenses. These are all important ways to even the playing field for open source without mandating its procurement."

Image: Map of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA

Massachusetts created the wave of Government adoption of ODF (OpenDocument Format) in September 2005. Louis Gutierrez, CIO of their ITD (Information Technology Division) released a "Mid-Year Statement Regarding ODF Implementation" on 23 August 2006.

The statement is assuring, as Massachusetts asserts its commitment to ODF implementation, including addressing accessibility for disabled employees.

Below are a few related links:

• Massachusetts ITD: Mid-Year Statement Regarding ODF Implementation
  Excerpt:
  "Earlier this year, alternative ODF-supporting office suites were being considered by ITD. The accessibility of these applications, and their ability to work with assistive technology, has improved steadily. Over time these suites will improve the options available to people with disabilities. However, it is our judgment that they are unlikely to be fully supported by assistive technology vendors, or alternatively to include fully functional adaptations in the packaged product, by January 1, 2007, the original target date for ODF implementation. 

But promising new projects are underway this year to create translator software that will enable the Microsoft Office suite to translate documents from Microsoft formats to ODF and vice versa. Upon public release and validation, these tools will enable Executive Department agencies to begin implementing ODF while leveraging the installed base of Microsoft Office and available assistive technologies.   We anticipate one or more of these projects to allow ODF adoption to commence before January 1, 2007."

• ODF Alliance press release: ODF Alliance Applauds Massachusetts’ Continued Commitment to Implement ODF in January 2007 - Hails progress on making ODF more accessible to people with disabilities
  Excerpt:
  “This announcement shows continued commitment by the Massachusetts government towards a true open-standard format, and we continue to fully support the Commonwealth's strong leadership on this issue,” said Marino Marcich, ManagingDirector of the ODF Alliance. “This decision signals the confidence of the Massachusetts ITD to utilize plug-in or converter technology so that all users can retain their existing accessibility tools, while still moving to ODF. This will inevitably lead to more accessibility choices – with other applications and on other platforms – than has been available in the past. We applaud the Commonwealth and the efforts of CIO Gutierrez to achieve full implementation of this open standard.”

• CNET News.com: Mass. to use Microsoft Office in ODF plan
  Excerpt:
  "Massachusetts will begin using OpenDocument as the default document format later this year as planned, but it will be sticking with Microsoft Office in the near term, the state's top technology executive said."

• Andy Updergrove: Mass ITD Resolved Accessibility Issues, Adjusts ODF Rollout Details
  Excerpt:
  "Wrong:  This does not mean, however, that Executive Agency departments will not be able to begin deploying ODF compliance software if they so choose when they upgrade their desktops as long as they make full accommodation for the needs of the disabled, allowing for instance, the use of Microsoft Office with an ODF plug-in.  For now, plugins will be the principal way of meeting the January 1, 2007 commitment.  Deployment will begin immediately after the plugins become both available, and certified for accessibility."

[update 26 August 2006:]

Photo: Irving Wladawsky-Berger

I have blogged about Open Innovation and the Global CEO Study 2006, Open Innovation in Government - Part 1 and Open Innovation in Government - Part 2, and will continue with Open Innovation in Government - Part 3 soon.

In the meantime, I thought readers may be interested in posts by an active senior corporate blogger, Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Vice President, Technical Strategy and Innovation, IBM Corporation. Irving blogs about once a week on "A collection of observations, news and resources on the changing nature of innovation and the future of information technology."

I especially draw your attention to two of his posts related to his viewpoints on innovation and the Global CEO Study 2006:

• 10 April 2006: The IBM Global CEO Study 2006
  Excerpt:
  "Another key finding is the link between external collaboration and innovation.  An increasing number of CEOs stressed the importance of collaborating beyond company walls, with business partners and clients as top sources of innovative ideas.  This is very different from previous organizational models that assumed innovation was too critical to involve outsiders.  In today's fast-moving, highly competitive and complex environment, more and more CEOs recognize that there exist a lot more capabilities for innovation in the marketplace than they could try to create on their own, no matter how big and powerful the company.
  
  Surprisingly, only one sixth of the CEOs mentioned their own R&D as a top source of innovative ideas, perhaps because most companies view R&D as confined to labs and focusing primarily on technology and product innovation.  One of the main lessons we have learned in IBM over the last few years is that innovation increasingly is occurring in the marketplace not just in the labs.  As the problems we are now tackling are much broader and more complex, R&D people can play a huge role if they get out of the labs and work with clients, business partners and others to learn about and help them solve those problems -- and then bring back their knowledge to the labs to  develop tools, processes and analytical capabilities that will significantly improve how we solve similar problems in the future."

• 17 July 2006: Some Personal Reflections on the Changing Nature of Strategy
  Excerpt:
  "Thus, a major part of the bottoms-up strategy process is to help organize within the business innovation communities that can let you know what is really going on out there, suggest all kinds of innovative ideas, and vet them as a community before making recommendations to management.  Our Thinkplace initiative at IBM aims to do just that, by providing the right platform, tools and governance to help communities self-organize within the company.  Collaborative innovation in general, both within and outside IBM, is a major objective of our Innovation that Matters initiative."

CIO Asia Magazine August 2006 edition's cover story is
The Truth About SOA
"In which we pour some cold water on the hype and answer your questions about why, how and when you should (or should not) start thinking about implementing a service-oriented architecture."

At LinuxWorld San Francisco on 15 August 2006, IBM annouced new initiatives for open source beyond Linux support.

IBM press release: IBM unveils development roadmap and business strategy for open source beyond Linux

Excerpt:
"IBM unveiled eight key open source initiatives beyond Linux, aimed at accelerating the adoption of open standards and extending existing product lines to reach new customers.  IBM also announced new work with the open source community to improve the development of general Linux kernel functionality, expanding its Linux focus around virtualization, Cell processor technologies, and security."

Links to news coverage on the announcement as below.

• ZDNet: IBM's open source expansion could speed up IT commoditization
  Excerpt:
  "This is an aggressive move by IBM which could speed up the commoditization of the IT sector and benefit its massive IT services business groups. But IBM  has a lot of proprietary technologies that are in the path of the open-source steamroller, and the trick will be to figure out which ones to develop further and which ones to leave behind."
• CRN: IBM Plans Big Push Beyond Linux Into Open Source
  Excerpt:
  "The company will push the Eclipse Rich Client Platform for hosting cross platform applications, Eclipse frameworks for development, Web application servers based on Geronimo, open source database Apache Derby and license-free IBM DB2 Express-C, the Aperi open source management project, open hardware organizations, Open Grid Services Architecture and Globus Alliance."
• VARBusiness: Linuxworld: New Opportunities For VARs In Open Source
  Excerpt:
  "Big Blue officials also announced its participation in new open-source projects designed to improve Linux kernel functionality and to expand its Linux focus around virtualization, cell-processor technologies and security. Looking beyond Linux, IBM's software, hardware and services organizations are using open-source business models to target opportunities in client-side middleware, development tools, Web application servers, data servers, systems management, open hardware architectures, grid computing, and IBM Research, business consulting and technology services."

Greetings from New York city! Arrived Friday night for some holiday and business. Here are some links on ODF.

Sam Hiser on ODF - an excellent "neutral" party description, developments and assessment: What Is OpenDocument

NewsForge -  A moderator at an O'Reilly Conference forum on open source confronted Microsoft with the expose by Rob Weir in his blog of ODF's second-class status in Office: OSCON day 2

Coverage on July 27 ODF Alliance press release citing Malaysia's proposal to make ODF a Malaysian Standard:

• ZDNet: OpenDocument wins more fans - Malaysia and Bristol are just two of the latest places to fly the ODF flag
• Andy Updergrove: Checking in on the ODF Alliance
• [Update 02 Aug 2006] Open Source News: Open Season - OpenDocument gets boost; Microsoft lets users share some code
• [Update 02 Aug 2006] Computerworld: Malaysia OKs move toward OpenDocument Format - It joins Belgium, Denmark and Massachusetts in embracing ODF
• [Update 02 Aug 2006] Newsforge: ODF Alliance Grows, Shares Good News from Malaysia

This week's links with summaries on latest developments in ODF:

• Andy Updergrove: ODF Notes and Reports from All Over (Installment VI)
• Groklaw: The Latest from the ODF Standards World

With the recent interests of Software Patents in Malaysia, I would like to post some useful links to where you can get updated on the issue.

The first is a nice introductory video on the differences between patents and copyright, and the dangers that software patents have.

• How Patents Actually Work

The second is a paper by fellow OpenMalaysia contributor Ditesh Kumar:

• Software Patents Background, Discussion and Illustration of Harm (ODF)
• Software Patents Background, Discussion and Illustration of Harm (PDF)

So go educate yourself on the issue and fight against software patents!

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” - Gandhi

The CIO's of Malaysian business and educational institutions sit and discuss the use of free software in their organizations. It's a very positive read as the comments by the CIO's are very favourable to the use of free software, and open standards (ODF gets a mention too) in their institutions, particularly so when one takes into account that these CIO's are from some of the more traditional business institutions (such as banks and telco's) in the country.

The Gandhi quote may have been overused by Slashdotters, but it does seems right at this juncture :-)

"Freeware vs Shareware vs Open Source"
Si Chen explains what are the differences between three models of "free" software, and why does it matter. Relating to the topic, I provided a Freeware Resource link where you can download freeware software. Remember, freeware is different from open source!

"Open Source Business Models and Strategies"
This is where you can find research, articles, and white papers on open source from a corporate perspective.

"OpenOffice.org Training, Tips, and Ideas"
Here you can find training, tutorials, discussions and related links on OpenOffice Suite. Hopefully can help you answer some OpenOffice FAQs.

"Linux Distros Resource"
This is where you can find Linux distros and download them. Dedicated to all Linux users.

"IGOS: Indonesia GO Open Source"
Talks about Open Source in Indonesia. The neighbouring country is starting too! Hope you can speak bahasa Indonesia well :)