The need for Open Document Format by Dr Yusri

8/9/2019 The need for Open Document Format by Dr Yusri

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ODF The Key to Preserving GovernmentData

Dr. Yusseri Md. YusoffCTO of Omnilogic Sdn Bhdon behalf of

The Malaysian Open Source Software Alliance

(MOSSA)We'd put a logo here, except that we can't decide which one ...


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Outline

Standards use of, abuse of

ODF ISO/IEC 26300:2006

International standard with overall goodness Reasons for Having a Standardised Document Format

Examples of ODF in action

Conclusions Questions


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Standards

Standards are, at its core:

An agreed way to do something

NOT an application ergo, independent of implementation

A mechanism to ensure competition

which is different from competitiveness

Often subject to manipulation by interested parties


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(Trivial) Example of a Standard

Consider the example onthe left

Three soft drinks bottles

(contents drank bypresenter beforehand)

1 Kickapoo Joy Juice

1 100plus Lemon Lime

1 Coca-cola


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(Trivial) Example of a Standard, con't

Now, the bottles havetheir caps swappedaround

Kickapoo bottle, 100pluscap

100plus bottle, Kickapoocap

Coke bottle, PepsiMaxcap


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(Trivial) Example of a Standard, con't

In the example given, we consider the caps to beadhering to a set standard. As such, the caps can beswapped around.

Extensive experimentation have shown this to be truefor all 1.5 litre soft drink bottles and their caps.

As such, manufacturers of soft drinks can pick andchoose which suppliers of bottles and caps to use, as

long as they adhere to the standard cap size


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The Open Document Format ISO/IEC26300:2006

The OpenDocument format is a file formatfor

word processing documents, presentations,spreadsheets and charts

First developed by the Open Office XML TechnicalCommittee of the Organisation for the Advancement ofStructured Information Standards (OASIS)

based on the file format used by OpenOffice.org


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ODF is an Open Standard

ODF is an Open Standard NOT an Open Sourcesoftware project

freely available, unencumbered by royalty claims or

other Intellectual Property Rights shenanigans Key contributor, Sun Microsystems have made an

irrevocable intellectual property covenant on theirpatents, see:

http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/office/ipr.php Specs can be downloaded at:

http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=office
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/office/ipr.phphttp://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=officehttp://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=officehttp://www.oasis-open.org/committees/office/ipr.php


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Reasons for having a standardiseddocument format


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Big Picture View

Not beholden to a single vendor for your documents

Sovereignty and security

Freedom of choice Ownership ofyourdata forever (or until your hard disk

dies)

(All the above are more or less the same thing)


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Pragmatic View

Version incompatibility (theoretically) eliminated

e.g. Microsoft Word '97 cannot open Microsoft Word XPdocuments

Application incompatibility (also theoretically)eliminated

e.g. Documents can be passed around by/to users ofMicrosoft Office, OpenOffice.org, Koffice, CorelWordPerfect, Lotus SmartSuite, IBM WebSphere, SunStarOffice, GNUmeric, ABIword, ekcetera

Formatting would be preserved


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Pragmatic View, con't

Potentially saves money

e.g. Retail copy of Microsoft Office 2007:

Basic = 530, Small Business Edition = 745, Professional = 990

e.g. Retail copy of OpenOffice.org:

Downloadable for free from http://www.openoffice.org/

BUT, it's not a zero-sum game.
http://www.openoffice.org/http://www.openoffice.org/


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Reasons for having a standardiseddocument format, con't

To expand, using ODF does not mean that you MUSTuse OpenOffice.org.

OpenOffice.org may not be suitable for your needs

You have a budget which allows you to buy anotheroffice suite, and you like that office suite better

But not everyone you interact with can afford topurchase your preferred office suite


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Holding on to your data (a.k.a. the fallacy ofdiminishing vendor support)

We are not under any extreme risk of Microsoft pullingsupport of their document formats

Try hard enough, and you'd still be able to open Word

2.0 documents But we should strive for the decoupling of applications

from their formats anyway

e.g. SQL databases (Oracle, MS SQL, MySQL,

PostgresQL) e.g. JPEG images (digital cameras, Picasa, Adobe

Photoshop, GIMP)

The same should apply for document formats


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ODF In Action


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ODF in OpenOffice.org on Linux


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ODF in OpenOffice.org on Windows XPProfessional SP 2


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ODF in Microsoft Word 2003


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ODF in Microsoft Word 2003, con't


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When All Else Fails ...

In a scenario where all you have is a computer andNO office suite, content can still be accessed.

ODF is stored in a ZIP file

Uncompress file, and look at content


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Conclusions


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Conclusions

ODF is just a file format a container, if you like.

As an ISO standard, ODF should be universallyapplicable.

Adoption of ODF brings benefits, some of which arerather intangible (rather like insurance you don'tneed insurance except when you need it).

Widespread adoption of ODF means freedom ofchoice, and

The guaranteed preservation ofyourdata, for all time.


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Wut?


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Thank You

email: [email protected]: http://www.omnilogic.com.my/

phone: +60378801601

futher reading: http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/
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