Re: [egov] OASIS E-GOV TC : USE OF OPEN OFFICE

[Sean McGrath <sean.mcgrath@propylon.com>]

At 08:31 07/03/2003 +0000, john.borras@e-envoy.gsi.gov.uk wrote:

>David/Jouko
>
>We did agree in Baltimore to use Open Office as our default but like you 
>I'm having problems with it.  I cannot install it on my network and my 
>document management system does not recognise the format.   So we need to 
>reconsider this at the TC meeting next week.  We need to be pragmatic 
>about this and Jon Bosak in a recent e-mail acknowledged that and a 
>suggested some alternatives.   Our policy here in UK Gov is to publish in 
>RTF and PDF as a minimum and we might consider that approach if .Doc is 
>unacceptable.  So let's talk some more about it on 12th please.

OpenOffice files are just zip files which, inside, contain clean, 
documented XML. Yes, it has some quirks (version 1.0.2) but I believe the 
true openness of its file format more than makes up for that. Its has a 
very fine word processor and works well with larger documents (using its 
master file facilities).

RTF, although stored in ASCII (and documented to a degree) is, in reality, 
completely proprietary. We all have stories of importing RTF from Word X 
into Word Y only to find all sorts of weirdness. This problem is 
exacerbated when non-Microsoft tools try to figure out
what the RTF means.

I try to use OpenOffice wherever I can, especially in e-Government work. I 
distribute OpenOffice + PDF. I send RTF on request but only having exported 
the RTF from OpenOffice and only as a read-only by-product.

I find it works well.

For documents that are destined for an on-line life - without significant 
page-centric considerations - XHTML editors might be worth considering.

My mantra: If it hasn't got a documented schema to back up its plain text 
notation, its not an open format. XML or not.

Just my 2 cents,
Sean
http://seanmcgrath.blogspot.com


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