My questions did not deny that some people cannot afford the software. I still would like a brief containing all the relevant information and argument, after it has been refined by a talk to the synod IT department. Ann (Rev. Dr.) Ann Wansbrough UnitingCare NSW.ACT PO Box A 2178 Sydney South 1235 Phone (61) (02) 8267 4280 Fax (61) (02) 9267 4842 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message ----- From: "Rodd Clarkson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Susan & Wesley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "insights" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 5:01 PM Subject: Re: Government, The Smith Family and Software Promotions > On Tue, 2004-06-15 at 12:04 +1000, Susan & Wesley wrote: > > >How would we set up this > > > system so that it works and so that we can benefit from the productivity > > > increases that some significant advances in software provide? What are > > the > > > costs and the savings, who would bear the costs and who would benefit from > > > the savings? Would it actually advance social justice in a practical way? > > >... > > > Ann > > > > Thankyou for your comments everyone. Ann raised a couple of questions which > > I think are very relevant, and deserve some consideration. > > > > IMHO it would be a huge call and a massive task for the UC to abandon MS > > completely. I've had a look at a fairly popular web-site to see what the > > main browers and operating systems are used. Out of 1.5 million page views, > > over 85% use Windows, with the next most used is Mac with a little over > > 1.5%. Entirely moving outside of MS would seriously risk isolating the UC > > and possibly reduce the effectiveness of its work. > > I wrote about four paragraphs about alternative web browsers and why > open standards have made the web what it is today, only to realize I'd > been distracted by the platform argument and that I needed to get to the > point. > > What I should have been doing is responding to the idea that a move away > from Microsoft's products would "seriously risk isolating the UC" and > that the Uniting Church needs to "easily exchange files with one another > within the church (including congregations, church members, community > service facilities, church schools and agencies) and with the > organisations beyond the Uniting Church with which we also work." > > This is of course, the point I'm trying to make. Re-read the quotes > above, but don't read church, read "low income", or poor, or under- > class. How ironic. While we in the church continue to use file formats > that require expensive applications to work with, we continue to isolate > those who can't afford such applications. We create artificial > barriers, rather than promoting a environment of contribution, and all, > I suspect, because we are concerned that it might mean changing the > software we use. > > One example of why we need to use Word was that "Parliamentary > inquiries ... ask for submissions to be in Word format". So, instead of > questioning why you should have to pay for $600 worth of software to > submit something to parliament, and wondering how the poor might ever > afford to make a submission, we allow our government too create an > artificial barrier, in this case expensive software controlled by a > single organization, instead of promoting communication. > > Let me get a little more technical now. When I first made these > comments, a private conversation ensued asking why this was such an > issue since OpenOffice.org was able to use MS Office files. It's a > great question, since it seems to negate my argument that low-income > families are being isolated. The answer is that while OpenOffice.org is > able to read and write MS Office file formats, it's also beholden to > Microsoft not to change these formats, and that as we speak, Microsoft > is in the process of changing to a new file format, this time protected > by patents instead of trade secrets which mean OpenOffice.org may not be > allowed to use the new format. > > The next question was what format would we use instead. The answer I > gave to this was: > > ...lets move the office file format from Offices proprietary > formats to the OpenOffice.org file format which is already > compliant with the OASIS XML-based document format standard. > > A wide range of companies and individuals were involved in > developing the OASIS XML-based document format standard with one > notable exception - Microsoft (I wonder why). There is no > (technical) reason why Microsoft can't either participate in the > development of this file format, or use it in their own > products. As far as I'm aware, the only limitation to this > format is that changes must be accepted before they can be used > so that no-one is at a disadvantage (ie, no one company can > embrace and extend the format for their own gain, limiting > compatibility) > > So as you see, there are already appropriate solutions to this problem. > Even better, while OpenOffice.org is able to read MS file formats, now > is the time to start moving away from this lock-in. > > The reality is that as soon as Microsoft sees people moving away from > their file formats, rather than arguing that it will 'isolate them' they > will be forced to support the format people are using. We wouldn't be > asking Microsoft to go away, we'd be asking them to play fair. > > I'm not after a world without Microsoft (some think I am). I'm after a > world without artificial barriers where anyone can contribute. > > > Rodd > > > > Rodd > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------ > - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] > - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) > See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm > ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
