JUST A DRAFT will review and rewrite but food for thought for the others.. AN OPEN DISCUSSION ON AN OPEN PROPOSAL TO THE PHILIPPINES STANDARDS ORGANIZATION
On Friday 04 April 2008 9:09:38 am Gabriel H. Mercado wrote: ******************************************************************************** how does it affect you specifically (being an advanced user / someone in the know / a professional in a related field). ******************************************************************************** Having ODF and OOXML makes the ability for companys to decide which one they would like to use to get the best features, But deciding on one and not the other as a standard that must be conformed too I am not in agreement. If we have to make a system to produce both standards then we are disadvantaged. At the moment Microsoft has not shown the full specification and it is unclear how often this standard can change. Using the ODF standard which is supported by multiple Large Software houses, IBM and SUN, we know that when a change is made to the standard it will be through consultation and notification, so as the Programmers or Third Party applications can be on top of the changes. Having many systems we internally program to generate reports, and information for government organizations i believe that the work load will be increased if the government decides that all document exchanges must be in OOXML. At the present time the Supreme court of the Philippines is using open office and the ODF format, it would be a shame to force this to change over to the Microsoft product platform due to changing of the standards at any time. If we take the case in point of the UK National Archives which have had to strike up a separate deal with Microsoft so as they can access data in an old Microsoft formats. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3937/is_200709/ai_n21100509 With the blink of a 117 MB download (and an even lengthier installation process), Office users will no longer be able to open files in 24 older file formats. That means users – citizens, government employees, small business owners, etc. – will not be able to open their own documents saved in file formats used by Corel (Wordperfect), Lotus, and most versions of MS Office products before 2000. Instead, users will see the not-so-user-friendly statement below: “You are attempting to open a file type that is blocked by your registry policy setting.” When a user attempts to open one of these older files, they will receive the above in a dialog box and no alternative actions are given to help users get access to their information in these “blocked” files. When pressed for answers regarding this change, Microsoft eventually admitted that their action was in response to concerns with their parsing of Office 2003 code that presented a risk, but only after they suggested the move was in response to security concerns with the files themselves. Microsoft continues, in our view, to erroneously maintain that files in these formats are creating a “security risk. http://www.fanaticattack.com/2008/microsoft-cuts-off-access-to-old-documents.html In this case Microsoft has taken once again a unilateral decision to not allow you to use files which you own, created, and may need. With past precedents set by this single minded company it makes it very difficult for me to store any documents in any of their formats since they may decide that i cannot access them with their own software. So if i want to be sure that i can always access these files i will need to have either a package also from a separate company or need to have a programmer available to convert these files when needed. We have seen the actions of this very large company impact our lives over the years and there is not a part of the world where they have software installed. Competing companies have been unjustly run out of business or had their business's hurt through there actions. The Philippines is a growing economy and should not make this a single standard if we must make it a standard then it must be with the ODF standard to allow for choice. Dealing with other Countries or Companies in the world some have already have limited to document exchange to be performed either in the older MS formats or the ODF format, we should not force the other way but allow for choice. If you must come out with a single standard then I believe this should be a standard in which people like ourselves have input in the creation and modification of the standard. ******************************************************************************** - how does OOXML affect the typical computer user (your average Jose and Maria). ******************************************************************************** Within our organization already we are facing problems with two users who communicate with other companies out side of ours, being the smaller organization we have to conform to their standards, also them being a multinational firm they are using standards which are set from their head office and not by the Philippines. We have cases where emails are needed to be resent, Presentations need to be reformatted. Even the use of Fonts with in documents is a problem as the spacing is not regular. We conform to the standards as set by both internal and external forces. The ODF format is not widely used yet but is getting more acceptance but when a company such as Microsoft can turn about and say that they will not even read a document in ODF format, which is a standard, without special plugins added then this is obviously a Marketing tactic and not a consumer driven tactic or usability tactic, and is against the common consumer. ******************************************************************************** - what is its relevance to your industry, if any ******************************************************************************** As in all industries the format you use is decided purely on two factors cost and functionality. With all companies who deal directly with the SSS and use the diskette, we use the format that they have informed us to use, we have no choice, In this case we should not have a choice as the numerous different methods that could be used would make their job too difficult. Standards are good and required, but enforcing a single standard which is purely driven by the Marketing arm of Microsoft is not a good idea. If we all had to communicate in the next 2 Years using ODF with all government organizations then I would accept that as a plan, since the ODF format is built using consensus of all parties involved. ******************************************************************************** - what would've been the proper procedure in choosing an open standard ******************************************************************************** The reason most people are against the OOXML format is that the standard has not even yet been finalized or fully published, yet they obtained the standard with out this. In all other cases a Standard must be published, written down so as the concerned parties can fully review it and accept it as a standard. If i propose an new Fire Protection Standard which 100% will stop fires will all countries agree on it before i publish it. I will now publish it. We must submerge all cities in water. Now is that a good standard, no, but it will do as i promised? ******************************************************************************** - how important is an open standard ******************************************************************************** 100 % important that it is open, I know some standards you have to pay for and this is correct as the organization who developed the standard have to pay for the time and effort put in, But once you pay once it is yours. For life with only the condition you do not reprint it. Once again this is not a company driven Standard it is a Standards Organization, which has input from may different sources and they have an open voting and approval process in the further development of the standard. ******************************************************************************** NEW HEADING WHY IS THE STANDARD STILL NOT COMPLETE. ******************************************************************************** This is the problem with the process that occurred lately, Maybe Microsoft will add a time bomb section to the Document standard? Maybe they will add an encryption method which must then be purchased from them. The OOXML standard does not mean that we will have access to the data, it does not mean that other operating systems will be able to use it in the future, All it means is they have published a standard which all their documents will conform too. ******************************************************************************** - add anything else you feel will help our cause ******************************************************************************** We have some very large problems within this country which have to be addressed, if we add to this by adding a standard which, at the moment no company conforms too, Even Microsoft themselves. We will just be adding to the problems of the country. Next Very few companies have moved on to the newer version of MS Office due to many reasons, cost, retraining the staff in its new interface, and not having the IT staff or the hardware to make the change over possible. The ODF format is fully supported on older PC's and lightweight handheld devices, today if we must decide on a standard then we must allow for a standard that can be used across all varieties of computing hardware, and not just the Latest PC's available. YES we still have a single PC with Win-95 since the program for the PABX will not run on anything else. -- Regards, Michael Cole LPIC-1 "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. " - Mark Twain "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." — J. K. Rowling "Wear the old coat and buy the new book." — Austin Phelps "I'm not a teacher: only a fellow traveler of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead – ahead of myself as well as you." — George Bernard Shaw _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
