New York Decision On ODF Vs. OOXML Approaching

christian.einfeldt writes "In August of 2007, the State of New York passed legislation requiring its CIO, Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, to gather information on the advantages and disadvantages of adopting either ODF or OOXML as a document standard, and to report her findings by 15 January 2008. As part of her duties under that legislation, the CIO issued a Request For Public Comment to get feedback on the topic. The deadline for that public comment is 28 December 2007 — so there is still time for the Slashdot crowd to be heard."

Comments

Write!

[h4rm0ny]

If you don't do something as quick and simple as writing to ask for something, what right do you have to complain when you don't get it. If just a small fraction of the people here write in support of ODF, that will be a huge and impressive response.

There's enough complaining about OOXML et al on this site. Put your money where you mouth is.

Re:Write!

[Anonymous Coward]

what right do you have to complain when you don't get it

Let's see - the NY taxpayers are already paying this CIO's (probably hefty) salary, and she is supposed to recommend that which is best for her constituents.

From all the info I've seen regarding the matter, ODF and OOXML are two document standards. One was written by committee and has the support of multiple companies, organizations, and individuals. The other is written by a monopoly and has support of no one except MS and their paid shills.

The fact is there is absolutely no reason for a government body to go with MS's lock-in format considering the technical merits of both, and most especially the past behavior of MS. OOXML is a pseudo-standard, purposefully obfuscated to keep the MS monopoly gravy-train running smoothly.

If these government agencies can't start making no-brainer decisions in the interest of their constituents, perhaps it's time that these positions were simply abolished...

Re:Write!

[Anonymous Coward]

The following are the minimal characteristics that a specification and its attendant documents must have in order to be considered an open standard:
        * The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit organization, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an open decision-making procedure available to all interested parties (consensus or majority decision etc.).
        * The standard has been published and the standard specification document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it for no fee or at a nominal fee.
        * The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of (parts of) the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis.
        * There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.

These commonly accepted criteria are enough to ignore the whole OOXML vs ODF discussions as OOXML patent licesing conditions only fake compliance. No one trusts the OSP and the CNS from Microsoft. And openness of the ongoing ISO process is a running gag.

Being Diplomatic

[Anonymous Coward]

Please folks, if you're going to comment on this issue be polite and don't use form letters. Refer to government open standards, how OOXML isn't a stable standard and is ungoing massive changes at Ecma, that kind of thing.

Mostly though emphasis on the "polite" part. Imagine how persuasive someone can be when they're not a dick about it and when they just lay out some good clear arguments :)

Re:Being Diplomatic

[kc2keo]

correct... another words use constructive criticism should you add input before the decision is made. List the pros and cons and be clear and to the point. Its kind of like a resume... If the employer sees many misspelled words, way to long, or with a font thats hard to read, etc will be ignored. If I was to write in with feedback I would put what I want in bullet points and have the text bold. Under that I will argue the pros and cons etc... I would follow the same form throughout my commenting. I find it to be the best way to get your point across. Forgive my horrible comment grammer but I just wanted to add my comment to the discussion. Getting back to History final exam prep along with the Spanish one... :-(

Re:Being Diplomatic

[harlows_monkeys]

Refer to government open standards, how OOXML isn't a stable standard and is ungoing massive changes at Ecma

The problem with that is that ODF is also undergoing massive changes. The version currently working its way through standardization adds the OpenFormula spec to ODF, which is something like 25% of the size of ODF. That's a pretty massive change!

When is....

[Creepy Crawler]

When is a standard not a standard?

Perhaps... it's when the company who wrote it won't pass it over to standards bodies.

Perhaps we ought to have "varying" standards for road design... or we should have ever-changing standards for building construction.

Considering this is public documents are at stake, it is our history. It is no less important than safety.

I'm a New York State resident and...

[betterunixthanunix]

...I've just about given up on politicians in this state. Albany has not been able to pass an on time budget for...actually, I don't think I was even born the last time they passed an on time budget. Governor Pataki was a union-busting asshole, and Governor Spitzer has failed to fulfill his promise of restoring integrity to Albany. Hillary Clinton votes for one idiotic bill after another, and Chuck Schumer voted in favor of Mukasey (need I say more?).

Re:Not even Windows users like OOXML

[corsec67]

Which version of .doc?
They are fairly incompatable, and not even Office can open all of the versions correctly:
95, 2000, XP, 2003?
There is no "doc" standard, it is just the memory dump of the version of Office, which changes with each release, and that is the problem.

TXT would indeed be better, if only because it isn't going to change in the future.

And invent time travel

[kseise]

Was she required to invent a time machine to meet that deadline? ""In August of 2007, the State of New York passed legislation requiring its CIO, Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, to gather information on the advantages and disadvantages of adopting either ODF or OOXML as a document standard, and to report her findings by 15 January 2007. "

Advice on History final

[smittyoneeach]

"in other words" is not spelled "another words".
Grammar on a final examination is as important as grammar in a letter to your congresscritter.
May your professor mod up your exam score.

Oh, Come Now

[Vengance Daemon]

Think about it: New York, politics, Microsoft's money, the need for an objective decision. It is just so cute that everyone on Slashdot is discussing this seriously and talking about sending comments in; I wish I had a camera.

Re:Oh, Come Now

[calebt3]

Try the "Print Screen" key.

You do

[Titoxd]

You answered your own question. Standardization does not equal adoption, but the State of New York is asking its CIO which format it should adopt. PDF became popular and a de-facto standard before ISO 32000 was approved, so it is important to note that a government is asking for public comment about which format to implement, regardless of ISO status.

Re:"locked in"?

[mattpalmer1086]

Gah. Here's a FAQ you may find useful:

Q: What does open office and MS Office have to do with a document standard?
A: Nothing.

Q: What does the GUI of your word processor have to do with the format you save a document in?
A: Nothing.

Q: Why do you need to use open office if you use ODF?
A: You don't, use whatever software you like.

Q: What does the open source software development model have to do with open information standards?
A: Nothing.

Q: Does using ODF mean that communists will steal my children?
A: No.

Q: Will aliens eat my brain if I equate information standards with software implementations?
A: Yes.