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France Leading Charge Against OOXML

Posted by kdawson on from the ceci-n'est-pas-ouvert dept.

Bergkamp10 writes "As Microsoft's Office Open XML document format waits in ISO limbo, South Africa, Korea, and the Netherlands are now actively pursuing the alternative Open Document Format instead, said the ODF Alliance. The Alliance now claims 500 members, and by their count 13 nations have announced laws or rules that favor the use ODF over Microsoft's Office formats. Those nations include Russia, Malaysia, Japan, France, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, and Norway. The French have been the most aggressive in their rejection of Microsoft's standard; nearly half a million French government employees are being switched to OpenOffice. There has been no similar move in the US, though in a speech at Google last week Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama called for data to be stored in 'universally accessible formats.'"

9 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. Viva la french! by DeeQ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Viva la French for their choice of OpenOffice

    1. Re:Viva la french! by hey! · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Conditioned?

      Let me tell you a story.

      A few years ago there was a song that got a lot of play at Republican campaign events, that had the lyrics, "I'm proud to be an American/where at least I know I'm free."

      Now, being the kind of nerd I am, my immediate reaction was, "How do you know you're free?" and "What do you mean by at least?" I suspect the answer to the former is "Because I was told I'm free," and the latter is "I may not have control over my work or personal privacy, but it's nice to be told that I'm free nonetheless."

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re:Viva la french! by Fozzyuw · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Oh well, I guess I'll burn some karma for this topic.

      How about the high-profile Hollywood screenwriter strike?

      High profile? Are you kidding? Paris Hilton, Brittney Spears, and Lindsy Lohan got more press coverage for drunk driving in one day than this entire strike has garnered this entire time. In fact, the last I heard in the news was how the Screenwriters are screaming conspiracy because they're NOT getting the air-time they want!

      And it's not "la French", it's "LES French".

      You're right, but I think he was going for "la France" as that's the popular phrase, but this isn't French class. Would it be too ironic to call you a French grammar Nazi?

      I can't avoid feeling antipathy for the French

      Why?The France are generally great people (as much as I love to give them the hardest time about their poor government programs, shitty service at banks and government offices, or their military victories). Speaking as an American who's engaged to and has been dating a French woman for over 4-years. By no means am I an expert, but I've a fair share of French Culture, sometimes the hard way.

      but I must concede to them

      That would be a first. You'd definitely take them by surprise. ;P

      it takes balls to stand up for their rights the way they do.

      See, now I know that you don't understand the French. It doesn't take balls. It doesn't take much at all. Striking in France is practically a hobby. They... Do... It... All... The... Time... Seriously, I cannot remember a time I was in France that didn't have strikes (or riots). I only laugh when CNN or some other outlet covers it as some sort of "end of France" like story.

      Sadly, there's a group of people (usually college students) that don't even know half the facts about what they're striking about. All they want to do is participate in a strike. Strikes also go far beyond "right". Just ask all the students and professors that where forcibly turned away from their classes (during important exams no less) by other students that were protesting. "My 'Rights' trump yours" is a more realistic motto for for some.

      France is also as media driven as the U.S. All it takes is one news broadcast or paper to say "train works will have to work more for less" to send all government workers on Strike without understanding the situation. Simply put, protest is part of the French culture. Just ask Marie Antoinette, who took away their baguettes and she lost her head. =P

      It's hard to be on strike and lose many days of pay.

      Tell that to the endless number of people who are not striking and cannot make it to their jobs against their will because they rely on public transportation. How about the harm to their countries economy? For what? The reasons for these strikes are just asinine. They're not trying to abolish the train system, striking to show what it would be like to not have trains isn't going to make a point. They're not trying to layoff the train work force. Striking to show how less workers would mean less trains and poorer service is not going to make a point.

      In fact, that extra 6 billion euros a year they will get for moving the retirement age back to 55, instead of 50, could be spent to INCREASE the number of jobs available. Something that France still needs badly. But this small group of French activists don't see it like that. It's "more work, less pay" and that's how the media totes it. Good thing the majority of France isn't that stupid and support president Sarko's reforms despite the hardships the monopolist unions are trying to strangle the French citizens with by forcing them into submission and making their lives hell.

      The real story about the recent train strikes isn't the train strikers but the average French commuter who continues to go to work in defiance to the strikes. That speaks louder than the *yawn* Paris marches.

      Cheers,
      Fozzy

      --
      "The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." ~1984 George Orwell
  2. Barack Obama called for data to be stored in... by pipatron · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Barack Obama called for data to be stored in 'universally accessible formats.'

    And all it takes is for Microsoft to say "Look, our document format is also universally accessible, we even have 'open' in the name," and most people would believe them. Good thing though, Obama seems to have some sort of grasp about the concept of computers and the interwebs.

    --
    c++; /* this makes c bigger but returns the old value */
    1. Re:Barack Obama called for data to be stored in... by idiotwithastick · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Good thing though, Obama seems to have some sort of grasp about the concept of computers and the interwebs. Or just a good grasp of what his advisors tell him to say, in order to get the vote of the "Slashdot crowd."
    2. Re:Barack Obama called for data to be stored in... by dkleinsc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I have no problem supporting a candidate who hires and listens to advisers that tell him to talk about the value of open file formats. Heck, acknowledging there's a problem that publicly is a great step. Compare that to another candidate, say someone named Willamy Blimpton, who listens to advisers that tell her to play down the issue or waffle so they can gain the support of Microsoft, and you'll see that the "he just listens to his advisers" isn't all that useful an argument.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  3. Re:Korea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So they know the pains of vendor lockin.

  4. Two different replies to this. by Thanshin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From two coworkers not directly related to computer science:

    - What? Everybody uses Word.

    - Oh, dear god, please let them reach a consensus.

    Guess which one works as the step between scientific writers and printing services.

  5. Free choice for whom? by Per+Abrahamsen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It makes perfectly sense for the government to standardize when practical on some formats for its own documents, so citizens won't have to have converters for zillions of different formats, just in order to talk to the government. In this regard, the government is like any other big organization, and should have the free choice you seem to advocate against.

    Where the free choice of the government should be limited is that they should not be allowed standardize on formats that are entangled with legal limitations.

    Apart from that, we can argue on technical merits on what formats to standardize on.