07.04.08
OpenDocument on a Roll (Next Stop: Uruguay)
From the Campaign for Document Freedom (India)
t’s quite a winning streak. This does not come as a complete surprise after the revelation about the University of the Republic embracing OpenDocument Format, but it’s nice nonetheless. Yes, in case you didn’t hear, Uruguay turned its back on OOXML. It favours PDF and ODF now.
It is with great pleasure that I present the recommendation of AGESIC (Agency for the Development of Government Electronic Management and Information and Knowledge Society) of Uruguay, which states that “… the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary Powers, Decentralized Organizations and Companies where the state holds equity majority… “, shall distribute and receive electronic documents in, at least, one open standard for electronic documents (ODF or PDF).
More encouraging remarks arrive from Bob Sutor, who says that “ODF keeps on winning.”
The Agency for the Development of Government Electronic Management and Information and Knowledge Society of Uruguay have now published their recommendation that public documents use either ODF or PDF.
Down in South Africa, progress on a migration to ODF is made. Remember where the push for ODF and against OOXML came from back in May.
South African localisation experts, Translate.org.za, have launched a new project to simplify ODF document translation.
The project aims to develop software that will convert documents in the ISO-approved OpenDocument format (ODF) into XLIFF, a standard format used by translators. The process will convert just the text of ODF documents into the XLIFF format for translation and then convert translated text back into the OpenDocument format.
It’s hardly surprising that Microsoft is now trying to control ODF. █
More on Uruguay and document formats (brief mentions) in:
- OOXML Incidents Index: From [T]hailand to [V]ietnam
- OOXML Believed to be on Path to a Loss at ISO (ITNews) (Updated)
- Week of Corruptions :: Day 5 (Closing Day) :: Microsoft Deceives the Press
- Quick Mention: Pieter Hintjens's Digistan Identifies OOXML-GDP Links
- OpenDocument News: ODF at Sun, Google, IBM, and Novell
- Microsoft on OOXML: “It's a Simple Matter of [Microsoft's] Commercial Interests!“
- The Second ”O” in OOXML Stands for ”Oligarchy”, Not ”Open”
- You Lose, You Lie
- OOXML Watch: Latest Stories of Deception, Corruption, and Disapproval
“Microsoft corrupted many members of ISO in order to win approval for its phony ‘open’ document format, OOXML. This was so governments that keep their documents in a Microsoft-only format can pretend that they are using ‘open standards.’ The government of South Africa has filed an appeal against the decision, citing the irregularities in the process.”
–Richard Stallman, June 2008
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.