<OT> petition for Open Document standards for US governement

[Doug]

On 04/12/2013 09:17 AM, Jared Norris wrote:
>
> On 9 April 2013 08:39, Ric Moore <wayward4now at gmail.com 
> <mailto:wayward4now at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     I figured this is off-topic, but we need to put our money where
>     our mouth is, if we want our LO/OO documents to be acceptable to
>     the US Government:
>     https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/establish-open-document-formats-all-government-correspondence/94wBGHT1
>
>     Give 'em hell, Harry! Ric
>
>     -- 
>     My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say:
>     "There are two Great Sins in the world...
>     ..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity.
>     Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad.
>     http://linuxcounter.net/user/44256.html
>
>     -- 
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>
> Actually, this could have been put in a bit of context and made it 
> perfectly on topic for the list. Putting the link in a better context 
> may not have required the "OT" tags that in and of themselves make the 
> post inappropriate for this list. Once such example of a different 
> possibility is shown below:
>
> As a long term Ubuntu users I've often struggled with my dealings with 
> government departments that have arcane requirements to use expensive, 
> closed products when dealing with them. I've often had to fiddle 
> around to get open source products to fit the stringent requirements 
> of a document. To combat this technical issue I've started a 
> collective petition in my country *insert link here* that anyone else 
> having dealings with these departments might be interested in as a 
> possible solution that might be slightly out of the box compared to 
> normal.
>
> I wanted to share it with the list in the hopes of inspiring those in 
> other locations who are facing similar bureaucratic issues in using 
> Ubuntu products might find this approach valuable to them in assisting 
> with their dealings with those who currently don't accept open 
> documentation.
>
> -- 
> Regards,
>
> Jared Norris
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JaredNorris
>
I've been watching this thread for a while, and I have to say, I think 
it's going nowhere, and for good reason.  A _very_ small percentage of
desktop users are running Linux.  Most are running MS Office on either a 
PC or a Mac. It would make a lot more sense to
me, if someone wanted to petition something, would be to petition both 
Microsoft and the US Government to standardize on _one_ version of
the MS Office products, and for MS to assist the devs of OO and/or LO 
and/or Softmaker in making their products compatible.
As a for-instance, MS Word 1997~2003 would be a good starting point. 
Most of the present "off-brand" word processors  can deal with
that already.  I'm not familiar with the other office products--the 
spread sheets, and presentation creators, etc., but the logic should
follow.
I am fully aware that this does not read well for FOS fanatics, but it's 
time to be realistic!

Just my 2¢  --doug

-- 
Blessed are the peacemakers...for they shall be shot at from both sides.  A.M. Greeley


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