Re: [Fsfe-uk] Acceptable formats

[Ian Lynch]

On Thu, 2005-03-10 at 11:45, John Seago wrote:

> Others may wish to correct me, (please do), but it would seem that the 
> formats with which government offices can cope are restricted to those 
> with which Microsoft software can cope.

Not quite as simple as that. Most serious WPs can handle rtf. Its an
open standard in that there are no secrets about its way of handling
things so its reasonable to accept it. .doc is just a practical reality
for the time being at least. If I developed an obscure WP with an
obscure format it would be a bit unreasonable to expect government
agencies to know about it and use it, particularly if it cost them money
to do it. Ideally an open format will become so common place that
everyone will use it. Until then we are where we are.

A useful campaign would be to get them to accept the ODF OASIS format on
the gounds its an iso standard - when it becomes one.

-- 
Ian Lynch <address@hidden>
ZMS Ltd