The eaGov blog

ODF / OOXML assignment i the fall

I have plans for writing an assigment at the IT University in Copenhagen,in the fall, about the two document standards (ODF & OOXML), their technical capabilities, the implementation of them in the public sector, long term benefits (or..) of the dual standard, that has been proposed etc. And for that matter I am in the process of collecting relevant information about the standards. Of course my main focus will be on the public sector in Denmark, but I know that there has been exciting development in Belgium, who choose the ODF standard and put the OOXML to the grave. Exciting news are sizzling i Norway and elsewhere.

Id like to hear from readers of this blog (if any) where I can find relevant theoretical background for this assignment, reports or other research on this matter.

More countries get om the ODF bandwagon. In Germany there is an ongoing debate about open standards – apparently just like in Denmark.

“The Alliance 90 / Green Party MPs in the Bundestag demanded to know how far the German government had come in its efforts to promote open standards in information technology, a target specified as part of the IT Summit in Potsdam. Now, the German government has provided an answer (PDF file) and reiterated its commitment to these goals.
(…)
In addition, the German government says that its “Advancing eGovernment“ conference held at the end of February in Berlin also provided impetus for greater use of open standards in information technology both in industry and in public administration. As a result of this conference, the German government plans to implement open document formats in its administration.” (source : Heise.de)

Now we are waiting for the danish government to respond to the audit of the ODF/OOXML battle. I suspect Hege Sander to get back within this year. Will the danish minister follow the Belgium and apparently the German government(as well at a few large states in the US)? Still there is the dual-standard talk these days, and it will problably be a difficult choice th push Microsoft over the edge and leave ODF in the light. If I were to put my money on the outcome, I would fear the dual-standard, eventhough I am a firm believer in just one.
But then again, I am not a government official and I am not the one to sit down, deciding this from another.

On thursday the 26. th of april, there was a discussion on the danish TV program Deadline. Steffen Ørnemark (IT-office manager in region Midtjylland) was interviewed. He is in favor of open standards and the use of none Microsoft products. Yet another exciting part of the open standards ‘war’ i Denmark/Europe.

See the interview here (in danish). Please slide to 22.51 minutes.

Tuesday, here i Copenhagen, there is a meeting, debating wether or not the Danish public sector should use a dual format strategy, namely ODF and OOXML. It is Dr. John Gotze, Open standard expert and Rene Lohde from Microsoft, OOXML lover, who will debate this issue. Beforehand there will be a meeting /conference in the danish Parliament on the very same issue – Peter Strickx (presumably he is enterprise architect in belgium) will attend and lay out arguments for not choosing the Microsoft “standard”. In addition, Morten Helveg Petersen and Morten Messersmidt, will attend – they were the “fathers” of the debate in the Parliament.

In a just enden public audit, there was only one company (of a total of 30 answers) who prefered only OOXML. .. Guess who!

I think there is an ongoing and very exciting work i Denmark i respect to this issue. There is an open debate og it is very easy to have an opinion. I believe only Helge Sander, the IT-minister and Microsoft who are favouring the Microsoft standard. I can not wait to hear soem good arguments for two standards.