Denmark Chooses OpenDocument Format

Seahawk was one of several readers to write in with news of Denmark's decision to embrace ODF. "On Friday morning Denmark decided to choose ODF over Microsoft's OOXML. For now the decision is only effective for governmental institutions, but regions and municipalities will most likely follow some time in the future. The decision has unfolded over a period of four years, and many open source advocates were fearing the worst, but it looks like the minister finally caved in and listened to what a lot of people were saying." While in transition away from Microsoft Office formats, the Danes may find use for this new OpenOffice integration guide (sent in by reader AdeleWard).

Comments

Wrong decision

[Anonymous Coward]

I know it is not popular around here, but come on folks, Microsoft Office is the standard format for doing business. By taking this move, the Danish government has dealt themselves a blow to their ability to interoperate with other people. Going forward this means higher costs will be needed by both the government and every company that does business with them, meaning higher taxes and a reduced standard of living. As a free market libertarian, I think this move sucks, and anyone with half a brain should too.

Re:Wrong decision

[BitZtream]

Have you used Microsoft Office? It can't interoperate with its own older versions

Have YOU used MS Office? I open older documents EVERY day, your post is entirely devoid of any facts or useful information other than showing your ignorance and need to push your agenda on others. You are, infact, spreading FUD just like Microsoft. In your hurry to 'stick it to the man', you are acting EXACTLY like them.

Good job. Way to fail.

Re:Wrong decision

[Anonymous Coward]

so many retards in this thread
its not a fucking law! its a buyer (the danish government) picking a product (open standards) ... capitalism at work, fuckfaces!!!

Re:Wrong decision

[BitZtream]

So ... older versions of Office do work with the new format then ... so you're point is invalid.

Also, how common is it for older versions of OO to work with newer versions of ODF?

Its retarded to argue that 'old versions can use new formats' ... of course they can't, you have to upgrade, anyone can grasp that concept, its the same regardless of what software you use. Doesn't matter if it comes from Sun, Microsoft or anyone else. If the format changes the software has to change to support the new features.

MS released a plugin to open the new format in the old versions of the software ... for free.

Re:Wrong decision

[BitZtream]

And this is different from any other software package how?

What application reads the ODF document format version that was used in the 90s? Whats that? None of them? Because like Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny it doesn't fucking exist?

There comes a point when you're format is hard to view anywhere if its anything other than plain old text. And EVEN THAT is a problem. How many apps do you know of that will open EBCDIC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBCDIC today? I'm sure there are ways to do it, but being that I haven't seen an Office 95 document OR EBCDIC text in years, its not really the issue you're trying to make it out to be.

Re:another step in the right direction

[BitZtream]

Who said anything about moving away from MS software? MS Office supports ODF. I see no reason they'd switch from MS products if they work properly. Having used both MS Office and OpenOffice, I'd rather pay for MS Office than use OpenOffice, I'm pretty sure most desk jockeys would feel the same way.

First way to make it clear you're nothing more than a fanboy ... use a $ instead of an S. That was cute in 1995 and when you're an angsty 15 year old fighting 'the man' without knowing or understanding why.

Second way to make it clear you're nothing more than a fanboy ... Ignore the fact that using an OPEN standard means you can use whatever software you want as long as it follows the standard, which MS Office does.

You don't give a shit about open standards, you're just an MS hater. Thats fine, lots of people are, but don't smear the use of open standards with your personal ignorance. You're no better than MS in this respect, you're just thinking that this format will lock people out of MS Office. You're wrong of course, and if you weren't then the 'standard' would be just as bad as being locked into something else.

The point of open standards is that anyone can play ball. You want to impose your personal agenda on others, which is exactly what MS did with the Office formats. You think you're different from MS, but your words make it clear that you're exactly the same.

Re:Cost savings?

[BitZtream]

The argument most trolls use is that you can use OO rather than MS Office, since you save the cost of buying licenses when using OO over MS Office, you get a cost savings in that aspect.

Of course, for most companies, given the choice between free OO and paying for MS Office, they'll still choose MS Office for a number of reasons.

No retraining needed being the biggest reason. The second being that OO is asstastic in almost every imaginable way for your everyday desk jockey that just wants to get their job done and not be part of some crusade against MS.

All the cost savings depends on ignoring the fact that people are used to Office, even the transition to the ribbon isn't really that bad, and MS Office has far more features and better performance, like it or not. Retraining the people who use Office and the IT staff that supports it is expensive, and really in the grand scheme of thing, software licenses are SO trivial to a business that the argument for savings is a joke. The computer itself will use more power in a few years than the cost of licenses for the software on it.

The cost savings argument is rather ignorant and short sighted, its only true if you have such tunnel vision that you ignore all the other work that goes into using the tool.

idiot.

[unity100]

there are open standards, there is microsoft's standards. wherever open standards are not used, microsoft's formats are used. up to few years ago, microsoft determined all standards due to their monopoly.

yet, there you are, talking about differentiation in between microsoft and odf, and making conclusions on other people's stances. you need to think about your own stance and know where you stand first. most disturbing thing is that there have been fanbois who modded you insightful.

Re:another step in the right direction

[BitZtream]

Governments and other massive organizations tend to not follow the upgrade treadmill that OSS loves, so not having the latest version probably isn't a problem.

Not everyone even likes OO, personally I don't like either, but I'd rather pay for MSO than get OO for free. Of course, whenever possible, I use HTML as my document format, which neither are worth a shit at.