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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