Dutch ODF Plan Could Sideline Microsoft

Yeti7226 sends word of a discussion coming up Wednesday in the parliament of The Netherlands that could result in mandated use of Open Document Format at government agencies there. If the plan is enacted, public-sector organizations, as well as the government, would have to transition to using ODF by 2010. Microsoft Netherlands has lobbied hard against the provision. Backers say it doesn't exclude Microsoft, because ODF can be produced out of MS Office via the use of plugins. A funder of the OpenDoc Society invited Microsoft to join that organization, saying: "This plan is not about Microsoft, it's about ensuring the perpetual availability of data without any obstacles."

Comments

Re:Have you ever even used GIMP?

[webmaster404]

Take Open Office and compare it to Office 2007, in a medium to large company, OOo offers a familiar environment, cross platform (Linux, Windows, Mac) open source and free Word Processor in comparison to Office 2007 although it may have more features, it still costs over $100, runs only on Windows, Has a new environment that is radically different then any other processor people are used to. The choice is clear, OOo wins, there is nearly 0 down-time for retraining and if someone absolutely NEEDS the features in Office 2007, there usually is a stand-alone application that can do the job (or an extension for OOo)