Belgium versus Microsoft?
p2p news / p2pnet: Belgium, the “David amongst European countries,” could be risking the wrath of that “Goliath of software companies,” Microsoft.
So says ZDNet, explaining the reason could be the Belgian government’s decision to use only open formats for exchanging documents.
A country being intimidated by a commercial sector entity? That can’t be, surely? You’d think not, but it happens all the time.
Sweden is still feeling Hollywood’s wrath, and Apple is able to force the French to re-think legislation that had been passed by the National Assembly.
But Belgium, apparently, isn’t about tocave in to Bill and the Boyz and its decision is, “pure common sense,” says ZDNet.
“The whole reason for having standards bodies and the standards they produce is to guarantee compatibility and stability above individual companies’ commercial concerns. Millions of Euros of taxpayers’ money is spent funding bodies like ISO, so it would be foolish to then ignore the work they do.
“While the proposal before the Belgian government is to use an open standard, in practise that boils down to a single choice: OpenDocument. ODF is an international standard, beyond the control of a single vendor. In choosing to standardise on OpenDocument for government paperwork, Belgium is sending a clear message to software vendors: Our information is too important to be left to the whims of any one company.”
In the public sector, “it’s vital no one supplier is given an advantage over others,” says ZDNet.
“It’s also imperative that the documents recording the business of government are readable by anyone at any time in the future. Only an open standard can achieve this. The private sector can also learn and benefit from this. Standards do not stifle innovation, nor restrict markets. Instead, they open them up to wider competition. Markets only work where they’re not stacked in one player’s favour.”
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Also See:
ZDNet – Open to the public, June 22, 2006
Hollywood’s wrath – MPAA, RIAA, US team up, June 15, 2006
force the French – France bows to Apple, June 23, 2006
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June 26th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
Massachusetts tried going open document and their chief software guy quit. Let’s hope Belgium is more successful. The latest version of Open Office is sleek, free, and every bit as good as any Microshaft product.