[Ecommerce] CNET News re US State Agencies and ODF

[Manon Ress]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
California may adopt OpenDocument

http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-6163186.html?
part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&subj=news*

Bill would require state agencies to adopt ODF as a standard and
exclude the use of proprietary file formats.
By Candace Lombardi
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Published: February 28, 2007, 2:56 PM PST

California may follow Massachusetts in making the OpenDocument Format
the required standard for state agencies.

The OpenDocument Format (ODF) is a standard XML-based file format
used by OpenOffice, an open-source application program supported by
IBM and Sun Microsystems among others.

Similar to the ODF bills proposed in Texas and Minnesota, California
Assembly bill AB 1668 would require that state agencies "become
equipped to accept all documents in an open, XML-based file format
for office applications, and shall not adopt a file format used by
only one entity."

The bill was introduced on Friday by Assemblyman Mark Leno, a
Democrat from San Francisco, and read on the floor of the state
Legislature on Monday.

The bill is not yet scheduled for a vote, according to Leno's office,
but if passed could go into effect as soon as January 1, 2008.

AB 1668's wording particularly excludes the use of proprietary file
formats used only by one application, such as those found naturally
in Microsoft's Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.

While Microsoft has submitted its Office Open XML (OOXML) format for
acceptance by the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO), OOXML is arguably viewed as a format proprietary to Microsoft
Office. Companies like Sun and Microsoft do, however, offer a
translator for converting files from Microsoft Word documents to ODF.

If the bill is passed, the ODF requirement would apply to all
agencies, but be added as part of California's government code
regulating the responsibilities of the Department of Technology
Services.

An ODF requirement has already been implemented in Massachusetts.
After complaints from disability-rights groups, the state also
adopted ODF plug-ins, programs for making ODF usable by people with
disabilities.

Leno also announced in January that he would be introducing Net
neutrality legislation to prevent companies from controlling Internet
infrastructure and consumer access based on content source or ownership.

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Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@keionline.org,
www.cptech.org

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