January 9th, 2007 Benjamin Horst
I just discovered Opportunity Knocks, a blog covering ODF, free and open source software, and government interest in open standards and open source.
I plan to link to several of Walt’s recent posts individually, since I’ve found many of them to be very interesting.
Yesterday, Walt posted a list of desktop and online applications that can read and write ODF files, for people who may not yet know what ODF is or how to create and use ODFs.
Posted in Free Culture, GNU/Linux, ODF, Open Source, OpenOffice.org | Comments Off on “Opportunity Knocks,” an ODF and FOSS Blog
January 3rd, 2007 Benjamin Horst
Students at the University of Illinois are developing an ODF Accessibility Evaluator:
“The ODF Accessibility Analyzer is a tool to be employed by users of OpenDocument Format-compatible authoring tools to ensure that a document in this format, be it text, spreadsheet, presentation, etc., is accessible to people with disabilities. The Analyzer will adhere to the ODF specification, as put forth by the OASIS organization.”
Files can be uploaded to the page linked above for analysis.
Peter Korn of Sun analyzes the project and its potential impact:
“To the best of my knowledge, tools like this only exist for three types of files: HTML files, PDF files, and now ODF files. Perhaps that is because HTML, PDF/A, and ODF are open standards which contain a lot of accessibility features put there through the thoughtful evaluation of and feedback from a community of accessibility experts.”
Last year’s attacks on ODF for not being accessible enough (though it’s still debatable whether they were valid at all), have been turned from showcasing a weakness, to a strength for ODF.
An open standard can be quickly improved or supported by stakeholders or interested parties that might come from anywhere–if it had been Microsoft’s format being criticized in this way, there is no way that a third-party group of students could have helped solve the problem, because Microsoft’s own licensing would bar them from getting involved.
ODF’s accessibility features are improving so quickly due to community support, that they are going to blow away the options Microsoft offers. Soon the disabled community will be much better served by open source than their current tools, and I look forward to welcoming yet another group of allies to the open source and open standards camp!
Posted in Free Culture, ODF | Comments Off on ODF Accessibility Test Tool
December 27th, 2006 Benjamin Horst
It’s a good time, at the end of the year, to review the progress we’ve made.
Linux Journal’s Glyn Moody writes What Can’t Open Source Achieve in the Next 10 Years? in which he looks back at the past ten years of progress in open source and reflects on what the next decade may bring:
“I take it for granted that open source will be as successful on the desktop as it has on the server – with the caveat that the desktop itself may well be far less important in ten years’ time. I also assume that everyone will be using ODF as the standard for document interchange and storage…”
Posted in GNU/Linux, ODF, Open Source | Comments Off on Linux Journal’s FOSS Retrospective
December 23rd, 2006 Benjamin Horst
December’s edition of the monthly OpenOffice.org newsletter has been posted.
It’s been another busy month for the OpenOffice freedom-fighters. Some major migrations from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org were announced in Finland, England, Belgium and the Netherlands. (OpenOffice adoption in Europe overall is happening at a fast and very satisfying pace.)
Meanwhile, ODF is also gaining ground. Brazil’s government is beginning to standardize on ODF for its office documents and has deprecated other legacy (Microsoft) formats! As the biggest country in Latin America, and a trendsetter, one can expect the rest of the continent to follow suit in the near future.
Finally, more and more software programs and projects are filling in the ODF ecosystem. Libraries are being written in many languages to create and modify ODF files, showing the truth behind early predictions that a standard file format for office documents would unleash the gates of innovative new tools and products.
Posted in ODF, Open Source, OpenOffice.org | Comments Off on OpenOffice Monthly Newsletter
December 15th, 2006 Benjamin Horst
Michael Brauer, Sun employee and member of the OpenOffice team, writes an interesting piece titled Why OpenOffice.org uses OpenDocument.
It begins with a strong philosophical stance on ownership of information: “The documents that our users and customers create with OpenOffice.org belong to them, not us. They, not us, must be able to read or process them in the near, far, and very far future. And they, not us, must have the choice to use whatever application they want to do so. And they, not us, have to bear the consequences if this is not given.”
Brauer discusses the decision, in 2000, to create a new file format from scratch, but based on existing standards, because as a true standard file format, it must be application-neutral. This distinguishes ODF from Microsoft’s OOXML, which does not make any effort to be application-neutral. (Its overarching goal is not to introduce any incompatibilities with the new Microsoft Office file format, and nothing more.)
Further, the ODF standard development process also prioritizes two major goals: Open source community members must be able to join, and all work must be done in public scrutiny.
Following these methods keeps corporations honest and prevents the process from veering off under the control of any single interest group. Again, the ECMA standardization process being followed by Microsoft OOXML does not meet these criteria.
ODF is, in its development process and its final form, a far more open and inclusive format than its competitor. More people can participate in or watch over its development, more developers and organizations can implement it in their own projects, and end-users will have greater control over their data when saved in ODF.
Posted in ODF, OpenOffice.org | Comments Off on Why OpenOffice uses ODF
December 8th, 2006 Benjamin Horst
Right now an extremely important contest is being carried out for the default next generation office document format. It’s Microsoft against everybody else (in the form of ODF).
While Microsoft is currently claiming the openness of its new file format, most cautious observers are skeptical because of patents it holds on some parts of the format. (It has promised not to sue or collect royalties from others who use that IP, but that’s not a comforting guarantee to competitors.) Controlling document format compatibility was the trump card that allowed the creation of the MS Office monopoly and led to billions of dollars in revenue; they wouldn’t let that go without a fight, because they are guaranteed to lose marketshare in a free marketplace.
CNet discusses many aspects of this ongoing battle in Microsoft’s document gambit moves ahead.
Posted in ODF | Comments Off on CNet on the Document Format Contest
December 5th, 2006 Benjamin Horst
A sudden rush of large countries are adopting or recommending the use of ODF!
The Open Malaysia blog covers this story, as does Data Manager Online (Italy).
Brazil has now deprecated XLS, PPT and DOC file formats in favor of officially recommending ODF for its governmental use.
The ODF Alliance press release (download a PDF here), that touched off both articles, mentions that “Italian standards bodies voted unanimously to recognize ODF as soon as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) formally publishes IS 26300, which [happened on November 30].”
Poland held a national meeting in which ODF was strongly advocated, and “in India, a government order was issued that ODF files will be used for the Delhi state government’s commercial tax office.”
These are bold moves taking place in major countries. ODF just keeps piling on the victories, and its outlook is continually improving.
Posted in ODF | Comments Off on Brazil, India, Italy, Poland Recognize ODF
November 30th, 2006 Benjamin Horst
Erwin Tenhumberg’s blog mentions that WordPerfect will support ODF.
And the original Corel Press Release.
Tom’s Hardware also chips in.
Here’s what Corel says: “Supporting both ODF and OOXML places Corel in a unique format-neutral position, independent of Microsoft, Adobe and other vendors’ efforts to propagate their respective standards. This format-neutral approach allows Corel to focus directly on addressing the needs of customers, whose adoption choices will determine which formats will become most relevant. Corel is the only vendor to take such an approach.
“Corel is and will continue to be a strong supporter of open standards. The XML format roadmap for Corel WordPerfect Office reflects our clear focus on responding to the needs of our customers, especially those in government who are making significant efforts to adopt open standards,” said Richard Carriere, General Manager of Office Productivity at Corel. “Because it is free, truly open and certified as an ISO standard, many customers see ODF as the most promising format for the future of office productivity. Yet upon the debut of Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft OOXML will immediately experience broad dissemination. Corel’s unique format-neutral approach ideally positions WordPerfect Office to address demand for both formats, giving us the ability to serve customers in a way other vendors can’t.”
Still unanswered is what WordPerfect’s default format will be.
Posted in ODF | Comments Off on WordPerfect to Support ODF
November 21st, 2006 Benjamin Horst
As the One Laptop per Child project continues to progress, they’ve recently uploaded a photo gallery of the first unit to leave the factory.
And ODF, the OpenDocument Format, plays an important role in the OLPC computers:
“An OpenDocument Viewer is important – it will allow kids to read electronic documents (such as educational books) in the OpenDocument format (ODF). This format is usable in AbiWord which is being adapted to work on the OLPC.
Obviously, since the whole point of the project is education, giving kids the tools they need to read electronic books in various formats is critical. The OpenDocument format (ODF) has properties that are especially valuable for OLPC electronic books, compared to HTML, PDF, or other formats.”
Posted in Free Culture, GNU/Linux, ODF, Open Source | Comments Off on One Laptop per Child Photos, ODF Support
November 15th, 2006 Benjamin Horst
Why not just work with ODF? Creating competing open formats for the same thing does not make sense!
Groklaw reports that China is developing an open document format of its own. The good news is that it should be relatively similar to, and compatible with, ODF. The bad news is that there isn’t any good reason to fracture the market behind alternative open standards.
The most important task right now is to marginalize Microsoft’s proposed new format before it gains traction. If open format supporters do not rally behind one standard, the chance of blocking MS’ formats is greatly diminished. And if an open format does not win, competition and technical innovation will continue to be severely curtailed, as they have been under the MS Office hegemony.
Posted in Free Culture, ODF, Open Source | 1 Comment »