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posted by janrinok on Saturday July 25 2015, @11:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the mais-oui dept.

Microsoft could get the boot from the French government if a new recommendation from an official advisor is adopted.

DISIC (Direction interministérielle des systèmes d'information et de communication de l'État) has recommended that French authorities ditch Microsoft Office tools in favour of the Open Document Format (ODF). DISIC is responsible for harmonising and reducing the costs of all state computers, including government ministries, state and regional departments and local authorities, and sees ODF as the best way to make them all interoperable.

According to sources, an initial draft of the report envisaged outlawing Microsoft's Open XML altogether, although with some agencies using tools specifically developed for use with Open XML, DISIC relented.

However, the final version strongly encourages the phasing out of Microsoft's ware in favour of ODF.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by deimios on Saturday July 25 2015, @01:54PM

    by deimios (201) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 25 2015, @01:54PM (#213477) Journal

    Schools aren't independent when it comes to software acquisitions relating to the curriculum. They buy (or get directly from the government) what they have to teach. And what they teach is determined by a select few who are ... um ... incentivized to include only MS / Adobe / Autodesk products.

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Saturday July 25 2015, @02:03PM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Saturday July 25 2015, @02:03PM (#213481)

    In my opinion, it should not be legal for a government to use a proprietary format where an open one exists. It forces people to buy from a specific supplier and ties them to that for future purposes as well.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Justin Case on Saturday July 25 2015, @02:28PM

      by Justin Case (4239) on Saturday July 25 2015, @02:28PM (#213486) Journal

      I'd go one step further and say the taxpayers shouldn't be forced to subsidize or prop up one corporation over another.

      There are laws that require tax funded entities to solicit bids and buy from the lowest priced supplier. But everybody knows the loophole around that one: simply write a "sole source" declaration: we have to buy from $ExpensiveCorp because they have a monopoly.

      Wrong! If you've just documented a monopoly, government shouldn't be allowed to buy that. Government could only buy when there is competitive bidding. It would put a stop to a lot of crony capitalism. Which is why it will never happen, I guess.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2015, @08:25AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2015, @08:25AM (#214179)

        shh... don't say stuff like that or gewg_'s head might explode

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 25 2015, @02:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 25 2015, @02:03PM (#213482)

    Our public school system now has students save their work in ODF on Google Docs. They used to use Doc but had too many problems with files not opening when created on home computers but opened on school computers. Openoffice/Libreoffice to the rescue!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 25 2015, @02:58PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 25 2015, @02:58PM (#213492)

      Our public school system now has students save their work in ODF on Google Docs.

      Very convenient for Google, a company which clearly respects people's privacy.