Dear Yesterday, the 23th of June, the Belgian consul of ministers have decided that every federal council need to optimize there software before September 2007 so that they can read files of the OpenDocument Format. If things turn out good, the federal authoritys will use the ODF as the standard format (also create) from September 2008.
Dutch text: http://presscenter.org/archive/20060623/432d0130470a88df1105dda38d1282b0/?lang=en&prLang=nl French text: http://presscenter.org/archive/20060623/432d0130470a88df1105dda38d1282b0/?lang=en&prLang=fr My personal try of translation into English: Open standaards (2006-06-23) Press release of the council of Ministers Use open standards for the exchange of officedocuments The council of ministers approve the note of the use of open standards for the exchange of officedocuments. Minister Vanvelthoven: 'Today, The exchange of officedocuments like textdocuments and spreadsheets is mainly based on popular officesuits like Microsoft Office, Corel Wordperfect Office,... Documents that are made by these can only be opened with these products. So when you want to exchange suchlike documents, you almost force the receiver to buy the officesoftware where the document is made by.' To decrease the dependence of these 'compagnyowned' formats, it is necessary to use an open standard as exchangeformat. XML is such an standard for exchanging information between different computersystems. A document based on XML is a guarantee to guarantee the accessibility of information on a long term base. The OpenDocument Format (ODF) is a XML-based documentformat that is accepted by the ISO (International Standard Organization). That's why we suggest to establish the ODF as standard for exchanging officedocuments like word processors, spreadsheets, presentations as soon as it is definitive approved by the ISO. Every federal public institution must take care before September 2007 that they can read ODF documents. This doesn't exclude the use of other formats. How the readfunctionality will be guaranteed, decides the concerned government. Dependent of the results of a by Fedict achieved analysis of impact, the ODF will be used as standard format for exchanging officedocuments from September 2008. For more information: Press office of the Minister of Labor and IT Koningsstraat 180 1000 Brussels Sir Koen Pardon (IT) Tel.: +32 (0)2 212.92.04 - cellphone: +32 (0)475 50.25.05 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Communication agency of the Council of Ministers - General Director Communication Communication - Chancellery of the Prime Minister -- Greets, Lucas mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
