Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

The French Want to Ban .doc and .xls Files From Le Gouvernement

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

Arthur T Knackerbracket found the following story a day or two back:

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.

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The French Want to Ban .doc and .xls Files From Le Gouvernement | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 40 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Justin Case on Saturday July 25 2015, @04:26PM

    by Justin Case (4239) on Saturday July 25 2015, @04:26PM (#213513) Journal

    > all the features I need (implemented correctly and reliably)

    If you're mentioning reliable software in the same breath as Microsoft, well, all I can say is you and I inhabit different universes. Who is President over there? Has Greece paid back their loans yet?

    MS intentionally makes it so MS Office files can't be opened in other versions of MS Office, just to drive the upgrade churn. How is that "reliable"?

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Insightful=1, Informative=2, Total=3
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   5  

  • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Saturday July 25 2015, @05:33PM

    by captain normal (2205) on Saturday July 25 2015, @05:33PM (#213534)

    Of 3 computers running 2 different versions of windows that I have, I was having problems just moving the same .doc files between them, all on Different ages of MS Office. Once I'd loaded OO on all three I've never had any problem opening or working with any text document nor any spreadsheet document. Nor any formatting problems even with MS Office documents. And no problems opening any cloud file nor any file sent to me via email. With MS Office I often had problems opening and working with cloud files and file sent via email.

    --
    When life isn't going right, go left.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26 2015, @11:27AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26 2015, @11:27AM (#213796)

      It's lucky you never have to open files with references or cross-references [documentfoundation.org].