Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: OpenOffice to be dumped in Freiburg ?

On 11/20/2012 12:53 PM, Tom Davies wrote:
> Hi :)
> I think it's better if they make suggests rather than being 
> dictatorial otherwise people make a determined stand to go another 
> way.  Prohibition didn't work in the US and other countries have tried 
> to suppress this or that which has continued anyway despite a 
> government outlawing it or even grown in popularity once it becomes 
> "naughty".
> Regards from
> Tom :)
I think the best method is use of open, standard formats for all 
documents issued by the governments and the requirement that vendors can 
only submit documents using the same open, standard formats. The 
proprietary formats are a legacy of the 80's.

The real problem with proprietary formats is that the owners' eventually 
stop supporting them, leave the market, or go out of business. Then 
users have orphaned documents that are very difficult or impossible to 
read. Compare books from say 1850 to computer formats from 1990. The 
book is still functional today and accessible to anyone while many 
computer formats from 1990 are inaccessible. Anyone who used computers 
since the mid 80's has run into the data format problem - old unreadable 
files compounded with storage on obsolete media (5.25 inch floppies, 
etc.).  I picked 1850 to highlight that data formats need long term 
storage and retrieval into the future not just tomorrow or next week.
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>     *From:* Jay Lozier <jslozier@gmail.com>
>     *To:* users@global.libreoffice.org
>     *Sent:* Monday, 19 November 2012, 21:09
>     *Subject:* Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: OpenOffice to be dumped in
>     Freiburg ?
>
>     On 11/19/2012 02:24 PM, VA wrote:
>     > At the risk of getting political, the last thing I want is my
>     government dictating to me what kind of file format to use on my
>     documents.
>     >
>     > Virgil
>     >
>     The issue is not truly political if the agreed standards are used
>     by all - it levels the playing field and tends to lower costs for
>     consumers.
>     > -----Original Message----- From: Jay Lozier
>     > Sent: Monday, November 19, 2012 2:16 PM
>     > To: users@global.libreoffice.org
>     <mailto:users@global.libreoffice.org>
>     > Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: OpenOffice to be dumped in
>     Freiburg ?
>     >
>     > On 11/19/2012 01:13 PM, Steven Bradley wrote:
>     >> I remember this discussion a few years back, when MSO was the
>     defacto
>     >> standard, and a moving target. One of the most important things
>     for any
>     >> agency, company government, or individual is backward
>     compatibility. I have
>     >> many documents that are difficult for me to retrieve, and I
>     wrote them less
>     >> than 20 years ago, using DOS programs.  I can only imagine what
>     things will
>     >> be like in 30 years for those "old" files. I believe it's of
>     paramount
>     >> importance, even in this age of rapid development and change,
>     to realize
>     >> that electronic storage of documents is the wave of the future.
>     They must
>     >> all be stored in a simple-to-access format that any program can
>     read, not
>     >> just the latest flavor of the "big boy."  I am actually fairly
>     concerned
>     >> about this, since the concept of proprietary file types has
>     never been
>     >> addressed by any government agency (it would be easy, for
>     example, for the
>     >> USGovt to mandate that all files be maintained with the
>     formatting in a
>     >> separate file.  If a large govt (China, the US, EU) mandated
>     that simple
>     >> change, then all files would cease to be proprietary, except
>     for formatting
>     >> changes.  One might lose the formats, but the file itself would
>     have a
>     >> permanence that most files do not now have.  I might also
>     suggest that the
>     >> file formatting be subject to some sort of regulation (yes,
>     they CAN do
>     >> that!), which makes all formatting retrievable, no matter how
>     long it's
>     >> been since the file was created.
>     >> Otherwise, we'll all lose a huge amount of information.
>     >> That's my opinion.  YMMV....
>     >> Steve Bradley
>     > Add to file formats, ability to read the old media (floppies,
>     zip-disks,
>     > etc). Back to your point, it will probably take government action to
>     > force the use of ODF or similar standard formats over any
>     proprietary
>     > formats. I am waiting for the MSO version that drops support for
>     doc and
>     > related formats.
>     >
>     > <snip>
>     >
>     >
>
>
>     -- Jay Lozier
>     jslozier@gmail.com <mailto:jslozier@gmail.com>
>
>
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--
Jay Lozier
jslozier@gmail.com


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