<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Mailing list for announcements for all OpenDoc Society members</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:members.announce@lists.opendocsociety.org">members.announce@lists.opendocsociety.org</a>></span><br>
Date: 2011/10/1<br>Subject: [OpenDoc Announce] OASIS ODF 1.2 is officially approved<br>To: <a href="mailto:members.announce@opendocsociety.org">members.announce@opendocsociety.org</a><br><br><br>Dear OpenDoc Society members,<br>
<br>
<br>
we are happy to be able to inform you that OASIS has today announced<br>
that Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument)<br>
Version 1.2 has passed the final vote with flying colors.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/tc-announce/201109/msg00010.html" target="_blank">http://lists.oasis-open.org/<u></u>archives/tc-announce/201109/<u></u>msg00010.html</a><br>
<br>
Congratulations to all members past and present of the various ODF TC's<br>
for this splendid result. New and exciting features like smart<br>
documents (through RDF), spreadsheet formulas and the improved<br>
quality throughout of key features like change tracking make this an<br>
important milestone for the entire community of both vendors and users.<br>
In addition, many governments around the world will be applauding the<br>
final publication in order to be able to add this much improved new<br>
version of ODF to their list of mandatory standards.<br>
<br>
Below you will find some quotes from around the world that might come<br>
in handy when you are talking to representatives of the press. You<br>
can also find these together with a lot of useful background<br>
information on our new portal at:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://opendocumentformat.org" target="_blank">http://opendocumentformat.org</a><br>
<br>
<br>
Your comments and suggestions to improve this resource are very welcome.<br>
<br>
We look forward to seeing many of you in person to congratulate you at<br>
the next odfplugfest in Gouda, The Netherlands on November 17/18th<br>
2011 (if you haven't planned to join us yet, visit:<br>
<a href="http://odfplugfest.org" target="_blank">http://odfplugfest.org</a>).<br>
<br>
Kind regards,<br>
<br>
on behalf of OpenDoc Society<br>
Michiel Leenaars<br>
<br>
==============================<u></u>=========<br>
<br>
"Since the Dutch parliament established an explicit policy on ODF in<br>
2007, adopting the open document format is an important instrument in<br>
making government IT more flexible and future-proof, while giving<br>
citizens and businesses the freedom to interact with their government<br>
using the software they choose."<br>
<br>
- Joris Dirks, project lead ODF,<br>
'Netherlands Open in Connection' (NOiV)<br>
<br>
"We like that ODF has been developed through an open, inclusive process<br>
- one that welcomes government participation and input - and that there<br>
are many products which support ODF, so vendor lock-in is not a<br>
concern. As a vivid promoter of open standards, Fedict welcomes ODF 1.2<br>
and encourages vendors to implement this specification on various<br>
platforms, ensuring "universal" (any device/any OS) information<br>
accessibility both in the short term and long term."<br>
<br>
- Peter Strickx, CTO Fedict<br>
(the agency responsible for developing and implementing<br>
e-gov strategy in Belgium).<br>
<br>
ODF1.2 is the cornerstone for building interoperable assets of<br>
information and knowledge especially within the public sector.<br>
<br>
- Manuel Velardo, Chief Operations Officer at CENATIC<br>
(part of Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism),<br>
Spain<br>
<br>
Just as importantly, with ODF, governments can be assured that they<br>
will have access to important documents and records 5, 10, even 20<br>
years from now with no worries that software provider will discontinue<br>
support for the format.<br>
<br>
- Graham Taylor, Director, OpenForum Europe<br>
<br>
RDF is the foundation of the Semantic Web: it enables information to be<br>
expressed in a manner that both machines and humans can produce and<br>
process. The inclusion of RDF in the OpenDocument Format expands the<br>
way in which people can communicate information; a single file can<br>
contain presentation, text content, and now also explicit meaning<br>
through RDF. People, Places, Events, Logistics, and more can be easily<br>
shared. Word processing software moves beyond the traditional<br>
processing of simple strings of letters to performing reasoning on<br>
information and helping you manage the things in your life.<br>
<br>
- Dr. Ben Martin, freelance software developer, Australia<br>
Member of ODF TC<br>
<br>
Information today is every organisation's key asset. It's clearly<br>
unwise to lock those assets into a format that you may or may not be<br>
able to open tomorrow. ODF is not only future proof. Since it is a true<br>
Open Standard, it also makes your organisation independent from any<br>
particular software supplier. Independence and long-term preservation,<br>
and openness as a standard: ODF sets a high bar that other standards<br>
should aspire to meet.<br>
<br>
- Karsten Gerloff, President FSF Europe (Germany)<br>
<br>
[..] considering the huge potential of eGovernance in the nation as<br>
well as the need to adopt open standards to make our data systems more<br>
inter-operable and independent of any limiting proprietary tools, we<br>
feel that ODF is a great technological leap and a big boon to further<br>
propel IT right to India's grass root levels. [..]<br>
<br>
- Rentala Chandershekhar, secretary of Ministry of<br>
Information and Technology, India<br>
<br><br></div>