[ossig] ODF Alliance Newsletter 20 July 2007

Mon Jul 23 10:48:26 MYT 2007

The latest ODF Alliance newsletter is out, as appended below. Highlights
include Japan's Interoperability Framework recognizing ODF, Kerala state in
India officially adopting ODF  and more news on the flaws of OOXML.

Note: Malaysia petition signatures for <NO>OOXML as at last week (19 July
2007) is found by clicking here (
http://hasansaidin.typepad.com/openmalaysia/malaysia_noooxml.html) --  120+
Malaysian signatures and rising.

Hasan.

============================================================================

Odfalliancelogo

ODF Alliance Newsletter 20 July 2007

You can download a free PDF version of the newsletter:
http://www.odfalliance.org/mail_list.php. Please feel free to forward to
whom it may be of interest.

Massachusetts: Last Day To Submit Comments On Proposal To Include OOXML In
Enterprise Architecture

Massachusetts' Information Technology Department (ITD) has released the
next draft of its Enterprise Technical Reference Model (ETRM) for public
comment. Among the changes is the inclusion of the Ecma-376 Office Open XML
Formats (OOXML). The Alliance strongly urges its members to provide
comments, which should be submitted to standards at state.ma.us no later than
20 July 2007.

Enterprise Technical Reference Model v.4.0 Public Review Draft -
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=itdsubtopic&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Policies%2c+Standards+%26+Guidance&L2=Drafts+for+Review&sid=Aitd

Groklaw - http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070712160114539

The ConsortiumInfo.org Standards Blog -
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20070709085538784

Alliance Comments – http://www.odfalliance.org

<NO>OOXML Petition Reaches 20,000+ Signatures; Ibero-American Campaign
Launched Against OOXML

The <NO>OOXML petition, now in 26 languages, has reached 20,000 signatures.
As the 2 September 2007 deadline for national standards bodies to submit
their votes on OOXML approaches, the Ibero-American campaign against OOXML
at ISO has been launched.

Sign the <NO>OOXML Petition - http://www.noooxml.org/petition

Ibero-American Campaign web site
http://meneame.net/story/campana-iberoamericana-officeopenxml-no-debe-ser-iso-29500

<NO>OOXML in Spanish - http://www.openxml.info/

Japan's Interoperability Framework Recognizes ODF

Japan adopted a policy under which government ministries and agencies will
solicit bids from software vendors whose products support internationally
recognized open standards. Previously, government agencies could ask
bidders to submit bids based on whether their products offered functions
comparable to particular software suites. The interoperability framework,
which takes effect immediately, gives preference to procuring products that
adhere to open standards, and which interoperate easily with other
software.

Alliance Release - http://www.odfalliance.org/press/Release20070710.pdf

Kerala (India) Officially Adopts ODF

Kerala, a state in soutwestern India, has now officially adopted its
information-technology policy,
which states that "[o]pen standards like Unicode and Open Document Format
and Open Architectures will be followed in e-governance projects to avoid
total dependence on select vendors." The "Information Technology Policy:
towards an inclusive knowledge society," was published in January 2007 and
the subject of a lengthy public consultation process.

Kerala ICT Policy 2007 -
http://www.keralaitmission.org/web/main/ITPolicy-2007.pdf

New York, Minnesota Enact Legislation Calling for Study of Electronic
Document Formats

New York became the second state, along with Minnesota, to enact
legislation requiring the study of electronic document formats. Both bills
require the states to examine how electronic documents can be created,
maintained, exchanged, and preserved in a manner that encourages
appropriate government control, access, choice, and interoperability. After
a public consultation process, findings and recommendations are to be
reported to the respective legislatures no later than January 15, 2008.

New York Bill - http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A08961
Minnesota Bill (see section 77) -
http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/getpub.php?type=law&year=2007&sn=0&num=148

New Applications Support for ODF
Sun's ODF Plugin 1.0 for Microsoft Office is now available allowing users
of MS Office to import and export to ODF.

Malte Timmerman's Blog -
http://blogs.sun.com/malte/entry/more_details_about_sun_s

New Alliance Members

Please welcome the following new members: Gubro-PR (Brazil); University of
the Philippines Linux Users' Group (the Philippines); CBMES - Corpo de
Bombeiros Militar do Espírito Santo (Brazil); 4Linux (Brazil); DBA Company
Informática Ltda. (Brazil); Futuro Sistemas (Brazil); IBAMA - Inst.
Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente (Brazil); 18 de Abril Alimentos Ltda (Brazil);
FAMEG - Metropolitan  College of Guaramirim (Brazil); Xensoft Labs (India);
ManeelGrover.Com (India); and Zando Computer SRL (Romania).

ODF-Related Conferences/Events

Aug. 5-9, 2007
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Annual Meeting - Boston,
MA
http://www.ncsl.org/annualmeeting/registration.htm

Sep. 19-21, 2007
OpenOffice.org Annual International Conference (OOoCon 2007) - Barcelona,
Spain
http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/

Sep. 19-21, 2007
EU 4th Ministerial eGovernment Conference - Lisbon, Portugal
http://www.megovconf-lisbon.gov.pt/

Oct. 15-16, 2007
Government Open Source Conference (GOSCON 2007) - Portland, Oregon
http://goscon.org/

Nov. 12-15, 2007
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
http://www.igfbrazil2007.br/index.htm

ODF In the News

Microsoft Faces EU Probe on Word, Excel Dominance, People Say
By Matthew Newman, Bloomberg.com; July 20, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aR9bHOp5bm3A&refer=europe

V1 committee gives thumbs down to Open XML doc spec
That means the U.S. could reject it as an open standard next month
Eric Lai, ComputerWorld; July 16, 2007
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9027164

Standards Org Deals a Blow Against Microsoft's OOXML Format
By Michael Calore, Wired Blog Network; July 16, 2007
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/07/standards-org-d.html

Microsoft OOXML spec 'dangerously flawed'
Techworld.com 07/11/2007; Matthew Broersma
http://www.itworld.com/App/070711msooxml/

Integration key issue in Massachusetts review of Open XML
By John Fontana, Network World, 07/05/07
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/070907-integration-key-issue.html

Ecma to create standard out of Microsoft's PDF rival InfoWorld
By Elizabeth Montalbano; June 29, 2007
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/29/Ecma-to-create-standard-from-Microsoft-PDF-rival_1.html

Reviewing the "Accessibility of Ecma Office Open XML File Formats"
Peter Korn's Weblog; July 03 2007
http://blogs.sun.com/korn/entry/reviewing_the_a_href_http

Mark Shuttleworth: ODF Beats MSOOXML
Solid Office
http://www.solidoffice.com/archives/571
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