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Norway Moves Towards Mandatory Use of ODF and PDF

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the good-ideas-also-mandatory-soon dept.

Andy Updegrove writes "Norway has become the latest European country to move closer to mandatory government use of ODF (and PDF). According to a press release provided in translation to me by an authoritative source, Norway now joins Belgium, Finland, and France (among other nations) in moving towards a final decision to require such use. The Norwegian recommendation was revealed by Minister of Renewal Heidi Grande Roys, on behalf of the Cabinet-appointed Norwegian Standards Council. If adopted, it would require all government agencies and services to use these two formats, and would permit other formats (such as OOXML) to be used only in a redundant capacity.Reflecting a pragmatic approach to the continuing consideration of OOXML by ISO/IEC JTC 1, the recommendation calls for Norway to 'promote the convergence of the ODF and OOXML, in order to avoid having two standards covering the same usage.' According to the press release, the recommendation will be the subject of open hearings, with opinions to be rendered to the Cabinet before August 20 this summer.The Cabinet would then make its own (and in this case binding) recommendation to the Norwegian government."

10 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. I hate PDF by SQLGuru · · Score: 3, Informative

    First, let me say that I like the concept of a single file format that can be read by any computer and displays in a consistent manner. From that aspect, I applaud PDF.

    However, the current implementation requires that I have a bloated reader that typically includes Additional Crap (tm) in the installation which installs by default (if even given the option). The reader insists in "improving performance" by running a program in my system tray for which I must remove the configuration myself (no option).

    This is also the same reason that I hate Quick Time, so it isn't limited to a single file type.

    Layne

    1. Re:I hate PDF by Englabenny · · Score: 5, Informative

      There is no such requirement. Many operating systems (Ubuntu, OS X, and probably everyone except .. ) bundle other lighter and nicer PDF viewers because they are nicer to the users.

      Is it a question of time before a lightweight, free software pdf reader captures the windows userbase as well?

    2. Re:I hate PDF by tajmorton · · Score: 5, Informative

      However, the current implementation requires that I have a bloated reader that typically includes Additional Crap (tm) in the installation which installs by default (if even given the option).

      Try another PDF viewer. KPDF and XPDF are both great for Linux/X users. For a barebones Windows viewer, try SumatraPDF.

      If you're stuck with Adobe Acrobat for some reason, then you might try these instructions to make Acrobat run a lot faster.

      Just thoughts...
      --
      Tell the truth and you won't have so much to remember.
    3. Re:I hate PDF by Oswald · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's amazing how slowly word is getting around, but you do not have to put up with Adobe's bullshit. This company makes a no-cost reader that absolutely blows Acrobat Reader away. It's lightweight, fast, stable and when you close the window, the process actually stops instead of just sitting in the background, screwing up your system.

    4. Re:I hate PDF by julesh · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm still using acrobat 5. It opens in less than half a second, uses only 12 megabytes of disk space, doesn't have a notification area icon, and just seems to me to work better than more recent versions. I've yet to find a PDF file I wanted to read that doesn't work (although it has now reached the point that almost all pop up a message saying they might not work properly, yet they always do).

      Or, as other posters suggest, use an entirely different program.

    5. Re:I hate PDF by SCHecklerX · · Score: 3, Informative

      Is it a question of time before a lightweight, free software pdf reader captures the windows userbase as well?

      foxit reader
  2. Think railway guages by Silver+Sloth · · Score: 3, Informative

    Exactly the same argument could have been made for railway guages, and yes, here in the UK we curse the decision to use 4'8.5" (I think, I'm sure someone will correct me) instead of Brunell's 6' but at least rolling stock can run on most tracks in the country.

    --
    init 11 - for when you need that edge.
  3. What about Okular? by orzetto · · Score: 4, Informative

    I like KPDF as well and that's my default viewer, but look at what is coming: Okular promises to be, if not an Acroread killer, at least a very serious contender. Note that this is KDE4 stuff (ergo Qt4, ergo it may easily be on Windows machines by year's end!).

    --
    Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
  4. Technical comparison by seandiggity · · Score: 4, Informative

    A white paper based on a technical comparison between the ODF and OOXML formats

    ...the OOXML "standard" is terrible from a technical point-of-view, even if you forget about Microsoft's motivation behind it.

    --
    Geeks like to think that they can ignore politics, you can leave politics alone, but politics won't leave you alone.-rms
  5. Re:Finland ain't Scandinavia by zokum · · Score: 3, Informative

    Norwegian doesn't come in two variants you dolt. There's a multitude of dialects that vary a lot and two written forms based on these. One is bokmål and the other is nynorsk. Bokmål, literally, book-language, is mostly based on danish, while nynorsk is closer to the original old norse language. From a linguistic point, nynorsk is the natural successor of old norse while bokmål is a norwegianized danish. Very few people actually speak like the forms are written, most speak some sort of dialect where a lot of the 'correct' grammar orally is not correct if written.

    --
    Rest in peace Malin "looxn" Kristiansen. We miss you...