Governments are increasingly adopting the
open-sourceOpenDocument
Format(ODF), according to theannual reportby theODF Alliance.
"By any measure, 2007 was an incredibly successful year for ODF,
as an unparalleled number of governments - both national and
regional - recognised ODF as a truly open standard format for the
future," said Marino Marcich, managing director of the ODF
Alliance.
"In 2007, proprietary formats became increasingly unacceptable,
especially in the public sector, which must not only ensure
long-term preservation of records and access to public information,
but must do so without requiring citizens to buy software from a
particular vendor," said Marcich.
ODF is seen as a threat to the proprietary document formats that
come with Microsoft's Office suite.
The report says the Netherlands and South Africa have officially
adopted policies requiring ODF's use by government agencies, and
Norway requires the use of ODF for all published, revisable
documents on government web sites.
They now join 10 other countries and six regional governments
that have adopted pro-ODF policies.
The ODF Alliance membership will soon surpass 500, it said, with
member organisations in 53 countries.