Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), has made a final decision on the document file format OXML (Open eXtended Markup Language). Out of 19 members, five of them did not attend the meeting, one of them abstained, five voted in favor of ooxml, and the rest voted against.
Read more »India's Final Vote On MS Office File Standard Is 'NO'
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Category: Government Tags:
Down with Windows! Russian schools turn to free software
http://russiatoday.ru –
A free online alternative to the Windows operating system is set to be introduced in schools in three Russian regions by 2009. If the pilot project proves successful, all schools across the country will make the switch a year later.
Read more »Microsoft ‘tax’ on Linux in schools must end says Becta
http://www.computerworlduk.com –
Becta has recently shown that it is unafraid of speaking out on behalf of schools. Unhappy with the value for money schools were getting regarding software licencing they first referred Microsoft to the government’s Office of Fair Trading then sent shock waves through schools when it issued its advice not to upgrade to Windows Vista or Office 2007.
Read more »South Africa adopts ODF as a national standard
http://www.tectonic.co.za –
The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) on Friday approved the Open Document Format (ODF) as an official national South African standard. The adoption of ODF by South Africa opens the way for the businesses and government to adopt ODF more widely in their processes. ODF is already an international standard, approved by the International Standards Organisation, or ISO.
Read more »Norway mandates use of open formats: HTML, ODF and PDF
http://virtuelvis.com –
Government, state and regional agencies, authorities and services may also publish in other formats, but they must always publish in one of these formats. The decree is retroactive, and by 2014 all documents published prior to this decree must have been converted and made available in one of the three formats.
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The Canadian Labour Congress Switches to OpenOffice - Saves almost $60,000!
http://news.softpedia.com –
The Canadian Labour Congress chose to use OpenOffice.org from now on as their suite of business applications. They had two options to replace their old WordPerfect installations: the widely used Microsoft Office or the free OpenOffice.org. The decision they took was clearly a financial one, saving approximately $60,000 in licensing fees.
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MAMPU migrates to OpenOffice.org and ODF to increase freedom of choice and interoperability
http://www.openmalaysiablog.com –
The Malaysian Administrative Modernization and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) has announced that the agency will be migrating to OpenOffice.org office suite as well as adopt the OpenDocument Format (ODF). In addition, Microsoft Office is to be phased out by end of 2008.
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NZ Ministry of Justice: We want open source
http://www.zdnet.com.au –
The New Zealand Ministry for Justice believes that open source software is a more stable, supportable, and cost-effective choice compared to proprietary solutions.
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Open source: the key to sustainable savings in public sector IT
http://www.computerworlduk.com –
The UK's budget is looming and the public sector is charged with increasing spending on front line services by 4% while budgets go up 2%. Free and open source software is a way of saving millions of pounds in licensing fees and delivering often better products, this article argues.
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Ministry of Education from Brazil is buying 3000 Debian GNU Linux computers
http://times.debian.net –
The Ministry of Education from Brazil is buying more 3000 Debian GNU / Linux computers , with four multimedia terminals and compatible printers for installing at 3000 rural schools, with 36 months contractual support. This next bidding adds up to the previous 90000 Debian GNU / Linux computers, network and printers.
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New OOXML Scandal - A Leaked Email Surfaces in France - Updated: New Details from Norway
http://www.groklaw.net –
"... Here's a computer translation of the email: «The project of RGI presented at the time of the last committee of the reference frames of October 12, 2007 had been put on standby, following the step engaged in the ISO by the ECMA concerning the OpenXML standard.
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Steve Ballmer was in India?
http://osindia.blogspot.com –
... Apparently, he was the last person to get into the flight and the first to deplane. Interestingly, that was the day when BIS met to discuss OOXML. For those who have been following this issue, India's final vote on the subject will be on 20th May 2008. Talk about timing!
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Navy to focus only on open systems
http://www.fcw.com –
The Navy will acquire only systems based on open technologies and standards.
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EU: European Commission to increase its use of Open Source
http://ec.europa.eu –
In a document published last week, the EC states among others that the Commission will prefer Open Source software for its new IT projects: "For all new development, where deployment and usage is foreseen by parties outside of the Commission Infrastructure, Open Source Software will be the preferred development and deployment platform."
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A Linux thin client for every child
http://resources.zdnet.co.uk –
In September this year, the Macedonian government announced one of the most ambitious educational technology projects ever proposed: to provide 180,000 of its school-age children with computer access.
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