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Subject: Re: [egov-ws] Preparations for the ebXML/Web Services SubcommitteeMeeting on March 12
Yes, we did decide in Washington to use openoffice, because its format is the only nonproprietary one available (the open-source software is free from openoffice.org, and the XML data format is being managed by a sibling OASIS TC). This is basically the same motivation that is driving the adoption of Linux for government use in number of countries. I think that there is an extremely important point of principle and of public policy here, and not one that I want to let go in the interest of expediency; that's how we allowed public-domain government materials to get locked into proprietary formats in the first place. With the active participation of Corel in the OASIS TC managing the openoffice XML format, it's to be hoped that this format will soon be readable in WordPerfect, thus solving the problem for some U.S. government agencies that use WordPerfect and hopefully inducing other companies to join the common effort so that all the office suites will be able to read and write the same files. This will be ideal, but we won't get there unless we make it clear by our actions that we are serious about the use of open formats in government work. Having said all that, however, I readily acknowledge that we can't let a blind adherence to principle stop us from getting the job done. So my suggestion is this: let's use openoffice for editing (it's fully functional and it's free), release documents in openoffice format (which is the only one that's managed in public), and then also "save as" a Word file to be included alongside the openoffice XML format as an attachment. Does that work? Note for people installing openoffice: You should install the latest Java Runtime Environment (JRE) first. So download the JRE from http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/download.html (just the appropriate JRE, you don't need the SDK), install the JRE, then download the latest version of openoffice from http://www.openoffice.org/ and install that. Now you're using all free software for your publicly funded work and saving it in a format that's under public governance. Jon
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