Bangkok Post: OpenDocument a Matter of Sovereignty
The Bangkok Post publishes OpenDocument Format: A Matter of Sovereignty.
The article hints that ODF is becoming a serious player among many governments right now. Massachusetts is breaking the ground, but numerous entities are following right behind:
“Today 13 countries are reported to be looking at Open Document Format (ODF) as a format for national documents as part of their e-Government projects, rather than to base everything on proprietary Microsoft technology.”
And for Thailand specifically, ODF is of great interest:
“Thaweesak… states in the report that making file formats open is now an immediate national priority for Thailand. Open standards would improve efficiency, continuity and transparency, he said.
Of particular concern is their role in ensuring a fair and level playing field within large-scale IT projects from government and corporations alike.
Manager of the ICT Ministry’s Software Industry Promotion Agency’s Open Source Department James Clark, is also known for endorsing ODF in a national context and his enthusiasm for OpenOffice 2.0 is well known. OpenOffice supports the ODF format natively and is being distributed on Sipa’s increasingly popular Chantra CD compilation of open source software for Windows.”
Aha! Another government distributing a CD of open source programs in local languages. A moment’s searching brings up a little bit more info.