UK government adopts ODF as standard document format
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Distribution: Debian, Red Hat, Slackware, Fedora, Ubuntu
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UK government adopts ODF as standard document format
Quote:
The UK government has announced the open standards it has chosen for sharing and viewing official documents.
The government has formally adopted the Open Document Format (ODF) as the standard for sharing and collaborating on documents and PDF/A or HTML as the standard for viewing documents. These standards are expected to be used across all government bodies.
The process to select the standards kicked off in 2012 and the government received over 500 public responses during the consultation process.
In particular, Microsoft has lobbied hard throughout the process for the government to include Open Office XML (OOXML), its proprietary file format, as one of the standards for documents.
For example, the company’s UK chief Michel Van der Bel wrote a letter to the firm’s partners in February urging them to contribute to the official consultation by asking for OOXML to be included on the list of approved standards.
The new standards will come into effect immediately for all new IT procurements and the Government Digital Service (GDS) will work with departments to produce guidance and implementation plans, according to a Cabinet Office statement.
These standards will mean that citizens, charities or businesses will no longer need specialist software to view or work with government documents.
It doesn't mean people will ditch MSO and move to the free versions (LO/AOO) but MS have to rethink what they support. It also means people get more visibility to ODF so don't need to buy MSO when they get a new computers.
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