12.19.07
Quick Mention: Norway Favours OpenDocument Format in Government (Updated)
The last ODF addition which we spoke about is Wikipedia. That was yesterday. Things are looking reasonably good in Norway as well. Groklaw has a translation:
[Translation]
Norway: ODF Must Be Used on Government Websites’ Forms
[…]
Everyone should have equal access to public information: Open standards become compulsory within the government
The government has decided that all information on governmental websites should be available in the open formats HTML, PDF or ODF. With this decision the times when public documents where only available in Microsoft’s Word-format is coming to an end.
- Everybody should have equal access to public information. From 2009 the citizens will be able to chose which software to use in order to gain access to public information. The government’s decision will also improve the competition between suppliers of office applications, says IT-minister Heidi Grande Røys.
This is the decision of the government:
* HTML should be the primary format for publication of public information on the Internet.
* PDF (1.4 or newer, or PDF/A - ISO 19005-1) is compulsory when you wish to preserve the original layout of a document.
* ODF (ISO/IEC 26300) must be used when publishing documents that are meant to be changed after downloading, eg. forms that are to be filled in by the user.
Norway remains one among many countries (e.g. Holland) that won’t give Microsoft an easy time, not even with its ‘new and shiny’ proprietary formats that have a fake, paid-for label. █
Related articles:
- Norway and OOXML
- Norway Decides: No with Comments on OOXML and a Hint from Hungary
- Norway Says No to OOXML
- Microsoft admits Swedish employee promised incentives for Open XML support
Update: Noooxml.org has an excellent collection of references (new and old) on this same important development.
A Norwegian view on the Office Open XML standardization process in ISO. Let us not forget that the Office Open XML standardization process before ISO has a single objective, i.e. to derail the adoption of the existing standard ISO 26300:2006 aka OpenDocument by the public sector.
The next milestone of the Project World Domino is reached. Norway adopts Open Document Format.
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.