ODF: The Better, More Affordable Office Standard?
I know that Brian Charlson is sincere about his desire to make sure that access is maintained to office documents for people with disabilities. He has a long track record of supporting accessible computer technology.
However, when he said, "The blindness community wants to make sure it's not against ODF [OpenDocument format]. We're against implementation without a guarantee that we won't lose the [few] jobs we have" at the Open Forum on the Future of Electronic Data Formats for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I think it's too easy to take this the wrong way.
Yes, many products already exist that can make existing Microsoft formats more usable. However, the key word is 'existing.'
Even if you buy that Microsoft's Open XML will be a true open-standard-which I, and many others, certainly don't-it's not the format that's being used and supported today.
One way or the other, people with disabilities are going to have to buy or have their existing equipment upgraded to be able to use tomorrow's office documents.
At least in the case of ODF, the standard already exists. Open XML doesn't exist yet as a Microsoft proposal. There is no Office 12 yet. There is no Ecma Open XML standard yet. There will be, but that's not today.
- Login or register to post comments
- Printer-friendly version
- 1641 reads
- PDF version
More in Tux Machines
- Highlights
- Front Page
- Latest Headlines
- Archive
- Recent comments
- All-Time Popular Stories
- Hot Topics
- New Members
digiKam 7.7.0 is releasedAfter three months of active maintenance and another bug triage, the digiKam team is proud to present version 7.7.0 of its open source digital photo manager. See below the list of most important features coming with this release. |
Dilution and Misuse of the "Linux" Brand
|
Samsung, Red Hat to Work on Linux Drivers for Future TechThe metaverse is expected to uproot system design as we know it, and Samsung is one of many hardware vendors re-imagining data center infrastructure in preparation for a parallel 3D world. Samsung is working on new memory technologies that provide faster bandwidth inside hardware for data to travel between CPUs, storage and other computing resources. The company also announced it was partnering with Red Hat to ensure these technologies have Linux compatibility. |
today's howtos
|
Recent comments
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago
1 year 11 weeks ago