Washington, DC, March 11, 2010.  The OpenDocument Format Alliance (ODF Alliance) today applauded the Request for Proposals (RFP) released by the Government of Edmonton seeking submissions to provide "solution design and implementation of the next generation of the office, messaging, collaboration and document storage platforms."  The initiative is intended to include the implementation of "open document formats to provide inter-operability between alternate applications."

"Edmonton's RFP is yet another demonstration of the global open movement, where the vast majority of governments are demanding open formats for greater interoperability and choice," said ODF Alliance spokesman David LeDuc.  "Given Edmonton's goal to establish a 'feature-rich productivity environment' that implements 'open document formats to provide inter-operability between alternate applications,' ODF is the only open standards-based solution that can truly deliver on a choice of solutions and savings, while ensuring long-term accesses to data."

The RFP is one of five major announcements made by Chris Moore, Edmonton CIO, at the Open Data Workshop held on March 6th.  The RFP identifies the intention to "move away from an office productivity suite available through a Windows client installation, and move toward a cross-platform browser-based solution, with data and services accessible inside and outside the City's network."

"This is very consistent with the global trend we are seeing among other governments. Not only does it reflect the demand for open standards, increased interoperability and choice, but also the call for online collaboration and browser-based solutions that are proliferating around ODF," added LeDuc.  "Either intentionally or not, the Government of Edmonton has timed this perfectly; the deadline for proposals is March 29, the day before Document Freedom Day, a global grassroots effort to educate the public about the importance of Free Document Formats and Open Standards in general."

About the ODF Alliance:

The OpenDocument Format Alliance is an organization of governments, academic institutions, non-government organizations and industry dedicated to informing policy makers, IT administrators and the public on the benefits and opportunities of ODF.

Government Bodies to Send, Receive Documents in ODF By 1 April 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Marino Marcich, ODF Alliance, +1.202.789.4450, mmarcich[at]odfalliance.org
Beth Dozier, Rational PR, +1.202.429.1833, bethdozier[at]rationalpr.com

Washington, DC, January 29, 2010. The ODF Alliance today applauded the final decision of the Danish Parliament requiring the use of open standard document formats by all central government bodies.

“Today's decision by Denmark reflects the growing specific demand and support for OpenDocument Format (ODF), especially among governments,” said ODF Alliance managing director Marino Marcich. “Open standards-based interoperability through ODF offers real value to governments in terms of choice of IT solutions, savings, and long-term access to data.”

According to the parliamentary decision, beginning 1 April 2011 governmental authorities in Denmark will be obligated to be able to send and receive documents in formats included in a reference list of open standard formats. ODF is unique as the only editable format listed that fully satisfies the five-part “openness” criteria for open standards for document formats whose use will be obligatory in the public sector. PDF/A-1 is listed for non-editable published documents. The action today was taken in accordance with Danish parliamentary decision B103 of 2006 requiring the government to ensure that the use of information technology by the public sector is based on open standards. The requirement applies to new IT and software purchases and major updates, which must be expense neutral.

“Today’s decision will serve as a model for the many governments planning to put their open standards policies into practice,” added Marcich. “The ability to implement support for the format fully on multiple platforms is an important criterion that the Danish Parliament has added. Vendors should take note of the open standards-based interoperability that their customers, particularly in the public sector, are demanding.”

Eighteen national and eight provincial governments around the world have now officially endorsed ODF for document exchange. For a comprehensive list and description of pro-ODF government policy initiatives, see: http://www.odfalliance.org/resources/Adoptions-ODF-2010-Feb.pdf.

About the ODF Alliance:

The OpenDocument Format Alliance is an organization of governments, academic institutions, non-government organizations and industry dedicated to informing policy makers, IT administrators and the public on the benefits and opportunities of ODF.

The Obama Administration's Open Government Directive was unveiled today. Concerning open formats the key provisions are:

“each agency shall take prompt steps to expand access to information by making it available online in open formats...…..To the extent practicable and subject to valid restrictions, agencies should publish information online in an open format that can be retrieved, downloaded, indexed, and searched by commonly used web search applications. An open format is one that is platform independent, machine readable, and made available to the public without restrictions that would impede the re-use of that information........”

Just give us the data! That's been the mantra of open-government enthusiasts, developers among them, who have created mashups – web-based tools that make the reams of government data more accessible and, importantly, put this data to effective public use. For example, Stumble Safely, highlighted in a recent New York Times article, links data regarding incidents of crime with popular locations, such as bars, restaurants and transportation hubs to help guide people home safely after a night out.

However, these mashups are typically web-based and do not provide access to the “data” inside a stand-alone ODF document/file. Like it or not, government bureaucracies are still very document-centric and there is a lot of government “data” stored in documents, the challenge being how to provide easy access to this data.

I was pleased to learn that the White House is planning to make increasing use of RDFa, a way of tagging metadata to content that could make this hard-to-find data more searchable. An RDF-based framework will be deployed in ODF v 1.2, which is currently available for public review. New techniques were also discussed and developed to provide access to data inside ODF documents/files at the OpenOffice.org Conference (OOo Con 2009).

With today's announcement, the Obama Administration has taken an important step on open government data and acknowledged the role open formats play in this regard. For document-centric governments, an open document format remains essential to delivering on this promise.

The growing public-sector support for ODF was on display at the 3rd International ODF User Workshop, which concluded last week in Brasilia. The event—organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SERPRO (Federal Service for Data Processing - Ministry of Finance, Brazil) and Caixa Econômica Federal, in collaboration with the ODF Alliance—brought together representatives from governments around the world that have already made the move to ODF or are actively considering how best to utilize an open format to preserve access to documents and records, increase software choice, and save some money in the process. The first day of the event was held at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty Palace) and the second day at CONSEGI, the largest international free software and electronic government conference organized by the Brazilian Federal Government.

Who was there? Government officials from twelve countries—India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, and Venezuela, in addition to the host, Brazil.

What happened? What was different about Brasilia than the previous ODF Workshops in Berlin in 2007 and Pretoria in 2008 was the focus on the needs of developing countries, in particular the use of open standards like ODF to promote local development and independence in ICT. Governments shared ODF best practices (compile implementation guidelines, build new templates instead of converting existing ones, secure support of power users, ensure top-level political support, build internal capacity) to get out from under “the deep foothold of proprietary formats” that have kept them on an upgrade treadmill. The workshop presentations will be published here.

What was signed? Brazil’s approach to putting ODF policy into practice took another major step forward with the signing of the Brasilia Protocol. In the presence of President Lula, major government institutions across Brazil formally signed what is in effect a commitment, which will proceed in phases, obligating signatories to begin using ODF internally, with each other, and ultimately in their electronic interaction with third parties and the public. The next day, the protocol was opened to private-sector entities for signature. Forty-four have since signed. Workshop participants expressed a strong interest in “internationalizing” the approach taken in the Brasilia Protocol.

Who was recognized? Earlier this year, the ODF Alliance recognized Vitorio Furusho (Parana State, Brazil) and the IT@School project (Kerala, India) for their outstanding contribution to ODF adoption, the mission of the ODF Alliance. I took this opportunity to surprise Furusho and present the award to him in person. Furusho was omnipresent, wasting no opportunity to tell the ODF story and demonstrating why he was recognized for his work in ODF community development

What they were wearing? ODF fashion also took a step forward. Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim is seen here after delivering remarks welcoming participants. 

Interest in ODF in the public sector is stronger than ever judging by the enthusiasm displayed and the number of governments expressing an interest in hosting the next workshop. I enjoyed the presence of the many local students with an interest in IT –- I judged their age to be in the range of 12-15 –- who were bussed into the event and provided free rein to attend CONSEGI sessions and mingle with participants. The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SERPRO, and the Caixa Econômica Federal were gracious hosts. The ODF community is deeply indebted to them for their considerable efforts in making the event a success.

Contact:
Marino Marcich, ODF Alliance, +1.202.789.4450,
Beth Dozier, Rational PR, +1.202.429.1833,

The Hague, June 17, 2009. New ODF interoperability initiatives were unveiled this week at an international conference organized by the Dutch government, which has mandated ODF for reading, writing, exchange and publication of documents and also initiated a requirement to ask for ODF when issuing or renewing IT contracts. The Dutch government program Netherlands in Open Connection (NOiV) and the OpenDoc Society cosponsored the two-day ODF “plugfest” at the Royal Library in The Hague, where vendors and open source projects were able to test their ODF capabilities with each other in real-world, collaborative scenarios.

“Events like the Hague ODF workshop underscore the commitment on the part of ODF government adopters and implementers to build on what has already been achieved regarding ODF interoperability and to continue to make improvements,” said ODF Alliance Managing Director Marino Marcich. “ODF interoperability is already at a high level, and with continued leadership from national governments and vendors, it will continue to improve at a rapid pace.”

Last year the Dutch government adopted a national policy making support for ODF a mandatory requirement for all agencies and applications. The latest effort by the Dutch government was part of a broader policy encouraging the use of open standards within the public and semi-public sector in the Netherlands. The ODF “plugfest” this week in the Hague was the first in a series of planned events whose ultimate goal is to achieve full, seamless interoperability for the entire feature set of ODF across all suppliers, platforms and supported technologies. All ODF implementers and those considering implementing support were invited to participate.

In his opening remarks welcoming participants, Frank Heemskerk, Netherlands Minister for Foreign Trade, said: “In making ODF support compulsory, the Netherlands can rightly be called a forerunner. This workshop is an example of this, because it is the place to share knowledge with each other.” He challenged participants, noting “ODF applications must have the right degree of interoperability. During this workshop, we are going to test that interoperability. We also have to come up with a joint course of action for developing effective ODF support in each other’s products and we must establish a testing framework.”

“The fact that this ODF interoperability workshop was organized is a clear sign that we are moving into the next phase in supporting ODF,” said Ineke Schop, Programme Manager at NOiV. “The use of open standards rely on available implementations and interoperability comes via these implementations. So I am extremely pleased with the support and commitment from vendors and open source projects at the workshop.”

With ODF now nearly universal, the event yielded several practical outcomes that will help implementers build on the level of ODF interoperability that has already been achieved.

-Virtual “plugfests” announced. Participants, who included representatives from over forty organizations worldwide and 12 vendors who have implemented support for ODF, agreed that the scenario-based testing of ODF support in each others’ products was an effective means to advance interoperability. Several bugs impeding greater interoperability between and among ODF-supporting software were uncovered at the event and corrected in real time. Given the positive reception from participants, a web site will be developed where virtual “plugfests” can be conducted online.

-Officeshots.org updated and offered to all vendors. An ODF file may look nice on your screen while you are working on it in its native application, but how does it look to your collaborator who may be using a different brand of software? Enhancements to Officeshots.org, which lets you compare the output quality of office applications, were unveiled at the event and made available to all vendors. After uploading a document to officeshots.org, the site will deliver the print, screen and code output as produced by a variety of different productivity applications - in different versions and across operating system platforms.

-ODF implementations notes to be published. Participants agreed on the merits of publishing implementation notes that would accompany the release of their ODF-supporting software. These notes would explain the design decisions that went into their ODF implementation and in the process help achieve maximum interoperability between and among ODF-supporting software.

“Thanks in no small measure to the rise of vendor-neutral file formats like ODF, dozens of new and innovative productivity tools are now arriving on the market, with vendors vying for the mantel of interoperability and openness,” said the ODF Alliance’s Marcich. “We commend the Dutch government and the OpenDoc Society for highlighting, in a pragmatic and results-oriented manner, both what has been already achieved, and the opportunities and challenges lying ahead.”

About the ODF Alliance:
The OpenDocument Format Alliance is an organization of governments, academic institutions, non-government organizations and industry dedicated to informing policy makers, IT administrators and the public on the benefits and opportunities of ODF.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Marino Marcich, ODF Alliance, +1.202.789.4450,
Beth Dozier, Rational PR, +1.202.429.1833,

Microsoft’s ODF Support Falls Short
ODF Alliance Finds Substantial Improvements Needed for Real-World Interoperability

Washington, DC, May 19, 2009.  The OpenDocument Format (ODF) Alliance today cautioned that serious deficiencies in Microsoft’s support for ODF needed to be addressed to ensure greater interoperability with other ODF-supporting software. 

“Support for ODF represents an important and ongoing test of Microsoft’s commitment to real-world interoperability,” said ODF Alliance managing director Marino Marcich. “Unfortunately, serious shortcomings have been identified in Microsoft’s support for ODF. Putting potentially millions of ODF files into circulation that are non-interoperable and incompatible with the ODF support provided by other vendors is a recipe for fragmentation.”

On April 28, 2009, Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Office 2007 which provided users the ability to open and save ODF files. However, an initial round of testing of Microsoft’s support for ODF in Office 2007 (see analysis at http://www.odfalliance.org/resources/fact-sheet-Microsoft-ODF-support.pdf) has revealed serious shortcomings that, left unaddressed, would break the open standards based interoperability that the marketplace, especially governments, is demanding.

“A number of basic interoperability tests between Microsoft Office 2007 and various ODF-supporting software suites revealed that the level of interoperability is far short of what governments around the world are demanding,” said Marcich. “For example, even the most basic spreadsheet functions, such as adding the numbers contained in two cells, were simply stripped in an ODF file when opened and re-saved in Microsoft Office 2007.  A document created in one ODF-supporting application, when re-saved in Microsoft Office 2007, rendered differently – missing bullets, page numbers, charts and other objects, changed fonts – making collaboration on an ODF file with Office 2007 very difficult. Indeed, some of the so-called ‘plug-ins’ were revealed to provide better support for ODF than the recently released Microsoft Office 2007 SP2. This is no way to achieve the interoperability around ODF that the marketplace is demanding.”

“Tracked changes are essential to document collaboration, and formulas are the essence of spreadsheets. Microsoft’s failure to support either in SP2 is revealing with regard to its support for real-world interoperability,” added Marcich. “Given the shortcomings in Microsoft’s support for ODF, governments need to continue to demand that Microsoft implement support in a manner that plays well with the software of other vendors.”

Despite these concerns, Marcich cited the growing interest in ODF.  “The intense, widespread interest in Microsoft’s support for ODF suggests the public debate over document formats is not about to end anytime soon,” concluded Marcich. “What is clear is that the era of public information being locked in a closed format requiring the public to purchase a particular brand of software is rapidly coming to a close, thanks in no small measure to the courage and foresight of leading ODF-supporting governments that have been willing to take a stand on this important public-policy issue.”

About the ODF Alliance:
The OpenDocument Format Alliance is an organization of governments, academic institutions, non-government organizations and industry dedicated to educating policy makers, IT administrators and the public on the benefits and opportunities of ODF.

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MS Office 2007 Service Pack 2 With Support for ODF: How Well Does It Work?
Summary of Initial Test Results on Microsoft’s Support For ODF

Microsoft’s support for the OpenDocument Format (ODF) represents an important and ongoing test of its commitment to real-world interoperability. With SP2, Microsoft instantly becomes the ODF office suite with the greatest market share. Putting millions of ODF files into circulation that are non-interoperable and incompatible with the ODF support provided by other vendors, however, is a recipe for fragmentation, effectively breaking open standards based interoperability on the desktop.

Summarized below are the major shortcomings in Microsoft’s support for ODF that have been identified after an initial round of testing.  Left unaddressed, they chart a path toward greater divergence instead of the convergence around an open, editable exchange format that the marketplace, including and especially governments, is demanding. Looking forward, a number of recommendations are made to enable Microsoft to make good on its commitment of interoperable support for ODF.

ODF Spreadsheet Interoperability

When reading an ODF spreadsheet, MS Office Excel 2007 strips out formulas, breaking spreadsheet interoperability with all other ODF-supporting applications. While adequate for viewing, Microsoft’s support for ODF spreadsheet collaboration is practically worthless.

-A test spreadsheet created in Google Docs, KSpread, Symphony, OpenOffice, and the Sun Plug-In 3.0 for MS Office, for example, when loaded in MS Excel 2007, failed to process correctly. This is because the formulas used to perform calculations within a spreadsheet (e.g., adding numbers in a column of cells) are simply removed in MS Excel 2007. Instead of performing the calculations, what is left is when the spreadsheet is loaded in MS Excel 2007 is the last value that cell had, when previously saved.

-The same test spreadsheet, when loaded and saved in all the other applications besides MS Excel 2007 (e.g., between KSpread and Google Docs), does process correctly. Most other ODF spreadsheet applications are able to interoperate just fine. The correct approach would have been for Microsoft to do the same to ensure that MS Office users can share spreadsheets with other ODF-supporting office suites.

-The ODF plug-ins for Microsoft Office written by third parties were revealed to provide better support for ODF than the recently released Microsoft Office 2007 SP2.  MS Excel 2007 will process ODF spreadsheet documents when loaded via the Sun Plug-In 3.0 for MS Office or the SourceForge “OpenXML/ODF Translator Add-in for Office,” but will fail when using the “built-in” support provided by Office 2007 SP2.

-Though spreadsheet formula for ODF 1.0/1.1 (the version which Microsoft claims it supports in Office 2007) are implementation-defined, ODF implementations have nevertheless converged on increasingly interoperable spreadsheets formulas. Microsoft was a voting member of OASIS at the time of ODF 1.0/1.1’s approval. ODF 1.2, expected to be considered for approval shortly as an OASIS standard, will define spreadsheet formula using OpenFormula.

-ODF spreadsheets created in Excel 2007 SP2 do not in fact conform to ODF 1.1 because Excel 2007 incorrectly encodes formulas with cell addresses. Section 8.3.1 of ODF 1.1 says that addresses in formulas “start with a “[“ and end with a “]”.” In Excel 2007 cell addresses were not enclosed with the necessary square brackets, which could be easily corrected.

Additional Reading: See Update on ODF Spreadsheet Interoperability by Rob Weir/IBM at http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/05/update-on-odf-spreadsheet.html and On the Microsoft ODF Support Fiasco by Ditesh Gathani at http://ditesh.gathani.org/blog/2009/05/10/on-the-microsoft-office-odf-support-fiasco/

Encryption

Microsoft Office 2007 does not support encryption (password-protection) in ODF files.

-A MS Office 2007 user with access to the password cannot open a password-protected document created in any of the other major ODF-supporting suites.

-Password protection is an interoperable, supported feature between and among the other major ODF-supporting suites, including KOffice, Open Office, and Lotus Symphony.

-In the other direction, ODF files written in MS Office 2007 cannot be password-protected. MS Office 2007 users are presented with a warning message that you “cannot use password protection using the ODF format.”

-Encryption and password protection are fully specified in ODF 1.0/1.1 (item 17.3 of the specification), so the failure to define this feature in ODF cannot be cited as a plausible explanation. Microsoft should implement support for encryption immediately. ODF 1.2 will come with support for digital signatures. Microsoft should add support for digital signatures as soon as ODF 1.2 is approved.

Additional Reading: See Microsoft now attempts to fragment ODF by Jomar Silva/ODF Alliance at http://homembit.com/2009/05/microsoft-now-attempt-to-fragment-odf.html

Tracked Changes
Microsoft Office 2007 does not support tracked changes in ODF.

-Tracked changes are essential to collaboration. Failure to include support for tracked changes rules out effective collaboration on an ODF file between users of MS Office 2007 and the ODF-supporting applications that do support this feature, including OpenOffice.org, StarOffice, Lotus Symphony, and Google Docs, among others. 

-Tracked changes are specified in ODF 1.0/1.1 so the failure to define this feature in ODF cannot be cited as a plausible explanation. Microsoft should implement interoperable support for tracked changes immediately.

ODF Support in MS Office 2007 Only

MS has not implemented “native” support for ODF in Office 2003 or its predecessors.

-The vast majority of Microsoft Office users, especially and including most governments, are currently using Office 2003 or its predecessors.

-To receive “native” support for ODF, MS Office government users will be forced to upgrade to MS Office 2007.

-For users of Office 2003 and its predecessors, Microsoft has promised to continue to support the SourceForge “OpenXML/ODF Translator Add-in for Office,” and the Sun Plug-In 3.0 is also available to MS Office users. While these plug-ins meet or exceed the performance of Microsoft’s support in MS Office 2007 SP2, they are no long-term substitute for full, native, interoperable support. 

Commitment to Support Future Versions of ODF

Microsoft’s announcement concerning the release of Service Pack 2 contains no promise that it will keep its “support” for ODF up to date with the latest version.

-Microsoft has dragged its feet for over 3 years (ODF 1.0 was approved as an OASIS standard in May 2005 and as an ISO standard in May 2006; ODF 1.1 by OASIS in Feb. 2007), despite repeated calls by governments throughout Europe and elsewhere to implement support for ODF.

-Implementing incompatible, down-level versions of open standards will break interoperability on the desktop, especially considering Microsoft’s potentially large ODF installed user base.

-Microsoft has a rich history of implementing down-level versions of open standards; e.g., Java in Internet Explorer, where Microsoft pre-installed an incompatible version with proprietary extensions and then to let it languish, failing to update it as the Java technology evolved.

-ODF 1.2, which comes with spreadsheet formula, metadata and digital-signature support, will be considered for approval as an OASIS standard soon and has been publicly available on the OASIS OpenDocument Technical Committee (in which Microsoft participates) web site.

-Microsoft and other ODF-supporting vendors should publicly commit to keeping their implementation up to date with the latest version of ODF. A new version of ODF should be required to be supported in any MS Office version or service pack released after the new version of an ODF standard is released.

The OpenDocument Format (ODF) Alliance is pleased to present its 2009 awards to Anvar Sadath on behalf of the Kerala education community in recognition of the IT@SCHOOL project, for which Mr. Sadath serves as Executive Director, and Vitorio Furusho, a systems analyst at CELEPAR, a public IT company in the state of Parana, Brazil.

IT@SCHOOL successfully integrated open-source technologies and ODF into the schools and in the process enhanced the productivity of teachers, improved students’ learning capabilities, and increased the management efficiency of school administrators. Through the IT@SCHOOL project schools throughout Kerala state were the first of their kind to systematically deploy ODF in the school-wide curriculum.

Vitorio Furusho has in the course of his 34 year career been tireless in his commitment to the adoption of open IT systems both locally and nationally in Brazil. Furusho coordinates CE21, the ISO/IEC SC34 mirror committee in the Brazilian National Standards Organization (ABNT). Under his leadership, CE21 approved and translated ODF (ISO/IEC 26300:2006) as a Brazilian National Standard. Furusho co-authored Parana’s state law 5742 which requires the use of ODF for editable public documents and Project 3070/2008 in the Brazilian National Congress.

The purpose of the ODF Alliance Award is to recognize the contribution of individuals or entities in promoting ODF adoption, the mission of the ODF Alliance. Nominations were received for individuals and entities who stood out as leaders in advancing ODF in various segments of society including government, education, or community and rural development.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Marino Marcich, ODF Alliance, +1.202.789.4450,
Beth Dozier, Rational PR, +1.202.429.1833,

Microsoft Responds to Growing Demand for ODF
ODF Alliance Cautions Governments to Evaluate the New Software
to Ensure Sufficient Interoperability

Washington, DC, April 28, 2009.  The ODF Alliance today welcomed the release of Microsoft’s Service Pack 2 for Office 2007, a software update that provides long-awaited support for the OpenDocument Format (ODF), while cautioning governments to evaluate the new software to ensure sufficient interoperability with other ODF-supporting applications. 

“This action reflects the global market demand, particularly by governments, for open standards-based interoperability through ODF,” said ODF Alliance managing director Marino Marcich. “This is a victory for ODF, as it signifies a reversal of course by Microsoft from their decision to shun the format during the initial launch of Office 2007.”

ODF was approved as a standard by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) in May 2005 and approved as an international standard (ISO/IEC 26300:2006) in May 2006. Instead of joining other software providers in support of a common industry standard and despite repeated calls from governments to implement support for ODF, Microsoft developed its own XML-based format, Office Open XML (OOXML), which it released in MS Office 2007.

The ranks of governments adopting ODF has continued to grow, as has the depth and range of ODF-supporting software. Seventeen national and eight provincial governments have endorsed ODF for document exchange, the latest being the UK government, which, under the “Open Source, Open Standards and Re–Use: Government Action Plan” indicated it will support the use of ODF and will work to ensure that government information is available in open formats. There are currently over 50 ODF-supporting word processors, spreadsheet and presentation applications.

“Microsoft has dragged its feet for over three years now. The key test will be whether Microsoft’s support for ODF plays well with other ODF-supporting software,” continued Marcich. “Governments will want to further evaluate the support for ODF provided by Microsoft and whether it sufficiently meets their needs for greater openness and interoperability.”

About the ODF Alliance:
The OpenDocument Format Alliance is an organization of governments, academic institutions, non-government organizations and industry dedicated to educating policy makers, IT administrators and the public on the benefits and opportunities of ODF.

The appointment of Aneesh Chopra as the U.S. federal government’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO), together with the earlier appointment of Vivek Kundra as the Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO), is a signal of the importance of information technology to the Obama Administration. We expect Chopra to play a vital role in achieving the policy goals set out in the Administration’s IT platform. He comes on board having already been tasked under the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government with coordinating the development of recommendations to executive departments and agencies to take specific actions implementing the principles of transparent, participatory, and collaborative government. His experience as Virginia’s Secretary of Technology, where he partnered with industry on several important initiatives, will be useful in addressing the challenges of open government data, where the ODF Alliance has made specific recommendations.

We applaud the Obama Administration on this appointment and congratulate Aneesh Chopra on becoming the nation’s first CTO.

ODF Turkey was officially established on April 10 during the annual Government IT Managers event in Antalya. I made the announcement during my presentation there together with Prof. Dr. Turhan Menteş, President of the Turkish Informatics Association (Türkiye Bilişim Derneği). Current members include Sun, Oracle, IBM, the Turkish Informatics Association, the Software Freedom Initiative, and the Pardus team (a national GNU/Linux distribution).

The Alliance has regional chapters in Europe and Latin America and national chapters in Brazil, Hungary, India, Latvia, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and now Turkey. Congratulations and best wishes to the new team in their efforts to advance document freedom in Turkey and the benefits it brings in terms of software choice, long term access to data, interoperability, and cost savings.

Marino Marcich
ODF Alliance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Marino Marcich, ODF Alliance, +1.202.789.4450,
Jomar Silva, ODF Alliance Latin America,

Anvar Sadath From Kerala, India and Vitorio Furusho From Parana, Brazil Recognized for Outstanding Achievement in ODF Education and Community Development
ODF Alliance awards recognize the contribution of individuals or entities who have significantly advanced document freedom

Washington, DC, March 25, 2009.  The OpenDocument Format (ODF) Alliance today recognized Vitorio Furusho from Parana, Brazil and Anvar Sadath from Kerala, India for their contributions to ODF community development and education. 

“ODF has become the format of choice in the public sector, a truly open standard that has achieved growing popularity and support in a variety of software products,” said ODF Alliance Managing Director Marino Marcich. “The actions of Vitorio Furusho and Anvar Sadath have significantly advanced the cause of document freedom, yet have not received the public recognition they deserve. Today, we honor their achievements.”

The purpose of the ODF Alliance Award is to recognize the contribution of individuals or entities in promoting ODF adoption, the mission of the ODF Alliance. Nominations were received for individuals and entities who stood out as leaders in advancing ODF in various segments of society including government, education, or community and rural development.

Vitorio Furusho is a systems analyst at CELEPAR, a public IT company in the state of Parana, Brazil, where, in the course of his 34 year career, he has been tireless in his commitment to the adoption of open IT systems both locally and nationally. Furusho coordinates CE21, the ISO/IEC SC34 mirror committee in the Brazilian National Standards Organization (ABNT). Under his leadership CE21 approved and translated ODF (ISO/IEC 26300:2006) as a Brazilian National Standard. Furusho co-authored Parana’s state law 5742 which requires the use of ODF for editable public documents and Project 3070/2008 in the Brazilian National Congress.

“It is fitting that on Document Freedom Day we recognize Vitorio Furusho’s achievements. The choice of a format today will influence your access to the information contained in a document 10 or 20 years from now, and, importantly, your ability to access it with the software of your choice. That is the essence of document freedom, why we honor Vitorio Furusho, and why document freedom is being celebrated at events in Brazil and around the world today,” commented ODF Alliance Latin America Director Jomar Silva. “Furusho is a professional with more than 30 years of experience working in the information technology industry, with emphasis on the public sector. His personal contribution has been fundamental to the advancement of ODF in Brazil, where he lead the effort to gain approval of the first Brazilian ODF law in Parana State.”

IT@School is a project of the General Education Department of the Government Kerala, India, which has introduced IT-enabled teaching and learning in over 2600 high schools across the state. The project began in 2002-03 with the introduction of IT in high school and is now being introduced in the higher secondary and upper primary level. The project integrates IT, including ODF, into the schools with a view to enhancing the productivity of teachers, improving students’ learning capabilities, and increasing the management efficiency of school administrators.

Anvar Sadath, Executive Director, IT@School, said: “It is indeed an honour for me to receive recognition from the members of ODF Alliance who are collectively working towards breaking down the barriers that constrain innovation and growth. Sharing technology and resources with communities worldwide to help eliminate the digital divide will create economic opportunity and foster equal access to technology. We look forward to extending our initiative across India so that more and more communities benefit from it.”

“Anvar Sadath has bridged the digital divide in Kerala,” commented the ODF Alliance’s Marcich. “He was among the first to recognize that an open format like ODF means giving students, teachers, and parents alike the flexibility to use a wide range of software than they currently have, including free solutions. Just as importantly, Sadath translated ideas into actions for the benefit of educational development in Kerala.”

About the ODF Alliance:
The OpenDocument Format Alliance is an organization of governments, academic institutions, non-government organizations and industry dedicated to educating policy makers, IT administrators and the public on the benefits and opportunities of ODF.

President Obama promises to be the most technologically attuned president ever.  His appointment today of Vivek Kundra as the new Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) further underscores that impression. Having articulated a sophisticated technology-based agenda, the President will need someone who can help translate this vision into reality. Kundra’s experience as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the District of Columbia, where he built a strong reputation as an IT innovator and visionary, makes him very well suited for the open-government objectives contained in President Obama’s technology platform. 

Earlier this week, the ODF Alliance sent an open letter to the Obama Administration calling on the Administration to follow through with the previously stated goal to make government data available in universally accessible formats and we provided specific recommendations to achieve that end. The appointment today of Vivek Kundra is a big step forward for open government and universally accessible formats. The ODF Alliance applauds President Obama on this selection.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Marino Marcich, ODF Alliance, +1.202.789.4450,
Beth Dozier, Rational PR, +1.202.429.1833,

Universally Accessible Formats Essential to Obama Administration’s Vision of Open Government, Says ODF Alliance

Washington, DC, March 3, 2009.  The ODF Alliance today offered specific recommendations to the Obama Administration to accomplish its goal of making government data available in universally accessible formats. 

“Early in the presidential campaign, then Senator Obama called for a more transparent and connected democracy by, among other actions, making government information available in universally accessible formats,” said ODF Alliance managing director Marino Marcich. “Open technologies like ODF can help transform this vision of open government into reality.”

President Obama’s detailed technology paper, “Connecting and Empowering All Americans Through Technology and Innovation,” firmly established his commitment to open government and called for “mak[ing] government data available online in universally accessible formats.” The Alliance applauded his technological insight and commitment at that time, and we continue to applaud President Obama for taking quick actions in his first days in office to make the vision of open government a reality.

“ODF is a prominent example of an open, universally accessible document format whose adoption and use by government will advance participatory democracy and more transparency,” continued Marcich in an open letter sent to the Administration today. “Other such prominent examples of open standards that are widely recognized by governments include HTML for web pages and PDF for non-editable, published documents.  All of these formats share the commonality of being widely recognized open standard formats that ensure access today and into the future, even as technologies change.”

The ODF Alliance letter called on the Obama Administration to direct executive departments and agencies to use universally accessible document formats as part of the Open Government Directive called for by the Executive Order on Transparency and Open Government issued on January 21, 2009.  The Alliance also urged the Administration to convene an inter-agency working group to create policies and guidelines regarding the use of open standards and universally accessible document formats to enhance interoperability, and to review and modify regulations on software procurement and its use to ensure adherence to open standards and universally accessible document formats.

“Ensuring that government data is publicly available in open, accessible formats like ODF allows citizens to derive value from such data and encourages them to take action in their respective communities,” concluded Marcich, who highlighted the development of numerous “mash-up” computer applications that show publicly-released data in a user-friendly manner, and the availability of many free ODF-supporting software applications.  “Just as importantly, with ODF, governments ensure important documents and records are accessible decades from now with no worries that their software provider will discontinue support.”

About the ODF Alliance:
The OpenDocument Format Alliance is an organization of governments, academic institutions, non-government organizations and industry dedicated to educating policy makers, IT administrators and the public on the benefits and opportunities of ODF.

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March 2, 2009

Mr. Peter Orszag
Director
The Office of Management and Budget
725 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20503

Dear Mr. Orszag:

On behalf of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) Alliance, an organization that promotes the use of ODF to help ensure that government information, records and documents are fully accessible across platforms and applications, I am writing in support of President Obama’s commitment to open government and the use of universally accessible formats. 

Early in his campaign for the presidential nomination, Senator Obama’s detailed technology paper ”Connecting and Empowering All Americans Through Technology and Innovation” firmly established his commitment to open government and called for “mak[ing] government data available online in universally accessible formats.” The Alliance applauded his technological insight and commitment at that time, and we continue to applaud President Obama for taking quick actions in his first days in office to make this great vision of open government a reality.

As you know, electronic documents are the life blood of modern governments.  Openness of the file format standard for these documents is critically needed to improve the efficiency of the internal and external flow of information.  Openness in formats is also critical to deliver higher value for dollar to government while improving its freedom of action, and create new value by unleashing innovation. Unfortunately, most governments, including the U.S. Federal Government, still rely on formats that are not sufficiently open and accessible to citizens now or in the future. 

Those governments that have demonstrated leadership in this area by requiring the use of open, universally accessible document formats have cited numerous benefits, among them: improving citizen access to government services and information; more choice and price competitiveness among applications from multiple vendors, including the availability of free solutions; preserving long-term access to documents for archiving and historical preservation; and leveraging documents and the content contained within them in new and productive ways.

ODF is a prominent example of an open, universally accessible document format whose adoption and use by government will advance participatory democracy and more transparency.  ODF is fully-published and available at no cost without restriction on its use.  Not dominated by, or tied to, a single software provider or its products, ODF’s vendor-neutrality has resulted in its implementation in more than 50 word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications, many of which are available free of charge.  Other such prominent examples of open standards that are widely recognized by governments include HTML for web pages and PDF for non-editable, published documents.  All of these formats share the commonality of being widely recognized open standard formats that ensure access today and into the future, even as technologies change.

The ODF Alliance supports making government data available in universally accessible formats, and we stand ready to help you and President Obama implement this worthy goal as part of your broader vision to implement open government that improves the quality and accessibility of information and services.  Therefore, I offer the following specific recommendations for you to consider as you focus on policies to accomplish this objective:

1) Direct executive departments and agencies to use universally accessible document formats as part of the Open Government Directive called for by the Executive Order on Transparency and Open Government issued by President Obama on January 21, 2009. The Order directs the Chief Technology Officer to coordinate the development of recommendations to executive departments and agencies to take specific actions implementing the principles of transparent, participatory, and collaborative government. Requiring the use of universally accessible document formats - namely ODF, PDF, and HTML - could be easily implemented with existing, competing (even free) technologies and would result in immediate benefits for citizens, including greater transparency, easier access to information today and in the future, and more choice on software to access this information.

2) Convene an inter-agency working group to create policies and guidelines regarding the use of open standards and universally acceptable document formats to enhance interoperability. These policies and guidelines would form the basis of an interoperability framework that details how interoperability will be achieved among government agencies and with citizens, maximizing the efficiency in the exchange, management, and reuse of data.

3) Review and modify regulations on software procurement and its use to ensure adherence to open standards and universally acceptable document formats. In addition to clear and consistent policies and guidelines, software procurement regulations should recognize open standards and universally acceptable document formats as a critical step to creating a level playing field for government contracting while saving taxpayer dollars and enabling a smarter government.

We are gratified by President Obama’s recognition of the transformative power of technology and innovation in government and look forward to working with the Administration to make open, interactive government a reality.

Sincerely,

Marino Marcich
Managing Director
ODF Alliance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Marino Marcich, ODF Alliance, +1.202.789.4450,
Graham Taylor, OpenForum Europe, +44 1372 815168,
Beth Dozier, Rational PR, +1.202.429.1833,

Washington, DC, February 25, 2009.  The OpenDocument Format (ODF) is steadily achieving continent-wide support in Europe, with the United Kingdom today joining the growing ranks of governments that have now endorsed its use. 

“Today’s announcement by the UK government reflects the growing demand and support for ODF, especially among governments,” said ODF Alliance managing director Marino Marcich. “Open standards based interoperability through ODF offers real value to governments in terms of choice of IT solutions, savings, and long-term access to data.”

Under the Open Source, Open Standards and Re-Use: Government Action Plan the UK government will specify requirements by reference to open standards and require compliance with open standards in solutions where feasible. The government indicated it will support the use of ODF. It will also work to ensure that government information is available in open formats, and it will make this a required standard for government websites.

“The fact that the UK government will use open standards in its procurement specifications and require solutions to comply with open standards is a significant development that will ensure competition among multiple competing products on different platforms,” said OpenForum Europe chief executive Graham Taylor, who noted the availability of both proprietary and open source ODF-supporting software. “Just as importantly, with ODF, governments can be assured that they will have access to important documents and records 5, 10, even 20 years from now with no worries that software provider will discontinue support for the format.”

Seventeen national and eight provincial governments around the world have now officially endorsed ODF for document exchange. For a comprehensive list and description of pro-ODF government policy initiatives, see: http://www.odfalliance.org/resources/Adoptions-ODF-Dec2008.pdf.

About the ODF Alliance:
The OpenDocument Format Alliance is an organization of governments, academic institutions, non-government organizations and industry dedicated to educating policy makers, IT administrators and the public on the benefits and opportunities of ODF. 

AbiWord project get funding for ODF improvement (Ryan Paul | Ars Technica)
Evidence of commitment to improved interoperability among the growing ranks of ODF-supporting apps.

Analysis 2009: Application Services come into their own (Curt Cagle | O’Reilly)
Foresees steady growth for ODF-supporting web-based apps through 2009, and an explosion in usage in 2010.

It’s the business processes that are bound to MS Office (Gary Edwards | ZDNet)
The ties that bind - interesting analysis of formats, document conversion and MS-bound business processes.

The Open Document Format Sweeps Across 16 Governments (Trond-Arne Unheim | Trond’s Opening Standard)
The ODF Annual Report 2008 received a lot of attention this past week.

Tech Advice for the New Administration (Walt Hucks | Opportunity Knocks)
Sound advice to the incoming Obama Administration about procuring open-standards based technologies. I expect a flurry of activity in the first 100 days as the Administration seeks to make good on its tech promises, among them making government information available in universally-accessible formats.