
	Where results make sense

Topic: Open format

	OpenDocument - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The OpenDocument format is intended to provide an open alternative to proprietary document formats including the popular but undocumented DOC, XLS, and PPT formats used by Microsoft Office, as well as Microsoft Office Open XML format (this latter format has various licensing requirements that prevent some competitors from using it).
		Since one objective of open formats like OpenDocument is to guarantee long-term access to data without legal or technical barriers, governments have become increasingly aware of open formats as a public policy issue.
		In contrast, Microsoft Office's proprietary file formats have had no public peer review of accessibility issues, and in fact the widely-used binary formats are not even published for review, so the OpenDocument specification is being held to a higher standard than either set of Microsoft formats.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/OpenDocument (1860 words)

	Informal Comments on Open Formats - Executive Office for Administration and Finance
		Open Standards, as you know, are specifications for systems developed by an open community and affirmed by a standards body.
		Open Formats are specifications for data file formats based on an underlying open standard, developed by an open community, and affirmed by a standards body; or de facto format standards controlled by other entities that are fully documented and available for public use under perpetual, royalty-free, and nondiscriminatory terms.
		These formats, like DOC files, will be deemed to be Open Formats because they will no longer have restrictions on their use.
	www.mass.gov /eoaf/open_formats_comments.html (820 words)

	Open File Format Definition (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		Any encryption/decryption or compression scheme used in or in conjunction with the format must likewise be documented such that any program that implements the standard should be able to decrypt the document if presented with the appropriate key, and such documentation must be included in the specification, and be made available under the same terms.
		A file will be considered "open formatted" if all data required to render the file in human perceptable form, whether embedded or linked is encoded in open file formats.
		Files which refer by links to external, closed format files, may be considered "open formatted" so long as the external data need not be interpreted to render the original file.
	www.anansispaceworks.com /Documentation/BuildImage/Legal/tosi.openformatdef.2003.03.19.html (799 words)

	The Open Source Weblog (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		The move is seen as both a victory for open source software and a blow to Microsoft, since Office doesn't support the format.
		Open source projects should and normally do support open file formats because it makes practical and ethical sense, but there is no hard link between the two.
		As long as users have access to their data in an open format, Commercial developers are welcome to play along if they think they can provide a service people are willing to pay for.
	opensource.weblogsinc.com /entry/1234000780060353 (706 words)

	Open Data Format Initiative: Sample Open Data Format Bill
		It is based, in large part, on the open source bill proposed in Oregon, with some parts inspired by the bill proposed in Peru (which is an ancestor of the Oregon bill).
		Data formats that are not "native" to a particular piece of software, but are read or written by that software only to improve the exchange of data with other pieces of software.
		Althought the Open Data Format is an attempt at this guarantee, I think it falls short, and is fraught with the same potential debates that open source is. Instead, I argue that the goal should be a guarantee of adherence to open standards and/or specifications for the purposes of data portability.
	odfi.org /archives/000014.html (4243 words)

	Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters: The Open Data Format Initiative
		Open data formats are important for many reasons, but the main one is that it's my data.
		For example, there was a recent Slashdot discussion of the OpenDocument format, and one of the benefits listed is that it is supported by the OASIS and ISO standards groups.
		This format has been reverse-engineered, of course, but technically any software that reads it may be violating a patent (there used to be an external email alias at Microsoft that people could contact if they wanted official documentation on the Word binary file format for non-commmercial use, but it is no longer active).
	www.proudlyserving.com /archives/2005/01/the_open_data_f_1.html (1109 words)

	Open Directory - Computers: Data Formats: Open Standards (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		Open Data Format Initiative - Initiative aiming to convince software companies to release data format documentation and to pass laws that governments can only store user data in open format.
		Open Source versus Open Standards - Draws a distinction between open source advocacies and the promotion of public standards, warning against the confusion of these two initiatives.
		Open standards are the beating heart of e-Business, without which concepts like intranets and business-to-business commerce would not be practical on a mass scale.
	dmoz.org /Computers/Data_Formats/Open_Standards (733 words)

	Brian Jones: Office XML Formats : MS Office Open XML Formats and OpenDocument XML format
		This is where the similarity between the two formats stops though: Our primary goal at Microsoft was to create an open format that fully represented all of the features that our customers have used in their existing documents, documents that have been created using the existing Office products over the past couple decades.
		Because both formats are open and documented, it is possible to create a transform (or filter) that goes between the two.
		These new formats open up all kinds of possibilities for those partners, or anyone else out there, to build solutions to map from our formats into any of the other XML formats out there (there are tons of them!).
	blogs.msdn.com /brian_jones/archive/2005/06/13/428655.aspx (8529 words)

	Open Standards
		Intercommunication and file formats should follow standards that are sincerely open for all to implement, without royalty fees or discrimination.
		Open standards are the beating heart of e-Business, without which concepts like intranets and business-to-business commerce would not be practical on a mass
		Presents a brief history of the GIF format as well as its open alternatives.
	www.canadiancontent.net /dir/Top/Computers/Data_Formats/Open_Standards (615 words)

	OEBPS (Open Ebook Forum Publication Structure) 1.0 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		OEBPS is maintained by the Open eBook Forum, a group of organizations involved in electronic publishing.
		Content components in other formats may be included, but fallback content must be provided in one of the core OEB formats.
		This bundle of files is likely to be used primarily as a middle-state format, with dissemination to end-users managed through publishers or aggregators who provide in a form appropriate for different ebook viewers/players.
	www.digitalpreservation.gov /formats/fdd/fdd000054.shtml (413 words)

	tecosystems: Massachusetts / Open Document Format Followup: Q&A
		I view the ODF as a format that Microsoft could have, but chose not to - as is their right, to participate in and support.
		The timing, incidentally, doesn't favor Microsoft's Office Open XML formats, because that's certainly not as available as the ODF.[1] But in the case of the ODF, Wilcox is essentially comparing the to-be-phased out Office binary formats to a relatively newly minted ODF.
		I do believe, unlike many open source and ODF advocates, that Microsoft's format is open in the sense that it's documented and available - by my definition it's an open format, but not an open standard.
	www.redmonk.com /sogrady/archives/000951.html#c004873 (3679 words)

	Thinking XML: The open office file format
		Discussion of precursors to XML file formats usually include comma-delimited file formats, which are very often used for import and export of spreadsheets and databases.
		All OpenOffice formats use DTD, which I think is good because having a schema helps enforce interoperability of the format, and the choice of DTD ensures broadest support in XML tools.
		Information on how OpenOffice uses XML, including the file formats, can be found at the XML project page which links to details and DTDs of the file formats, a discussion of the choices behind the package formats, and more.
	www-128.ibm.com /developerworks/xml/library/x-think15 (2167 words)

	OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) TC
		A vendor- and application-independent open document format for office applications protects content--whether it is an 800-page airplane specification or a legal contract--from being locked into an application- or vendor-specific file format.
		The purpose of the OASIS OpenDocument Committee is to "create an open, XML-based file format specification for office applications." This means, the file format is not specialized for a certain application, but it provides a formal standard for arbitrary office applications.
		The OpenDocument format is owned by OASIS, a non-profit consortium dedicated to the open development of public XML standards.
	www.oasis-open.org /committees/office/faq.php (1441 words)

	OpenOffice.org: Home (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		The demand for a genuine open-standard format for office documents is overwhelming.
		Microsoft's announcement on in November that it recognises the market pressure for open-standard data formats is a welcome development.
		OpenDocument, which OpenOffice.org uses, is approved by OASIS - the standards body for XML data formats in business; OASIS is sponsored by all the leading names in IT, including Microsoft.
	www.openoffice.org /#00000002 (457 words)

	tecosystems: Massachusetts: You'll Use the Open Document Format and Like It (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		Everything is moving to the Open Internet, and Open XML technologies are both the API, the file format, and the messaging layer for the next generation of Open Internet collaborative computing.
		According to long time open source expert Sam Hiser, who was invited to and participated in the Massachusetts Open Format Summit, what the EU considered to be the crown jewel, the XForms-SVG-SMiL aspects of OpenDocument, did not enter into the Massachusetts considerations.
		In the context of the XML file format, I have believed for as long as I have been aware of XML (not that long) that common documents are only part of a much larger opportunity to build efficient systems based on open standards.
	www.redmonk.com /sogrady/archives/000937.html (3992 words)

	Q&A: Microsoft Co-Sponsors Submission of Office Open XML Document Formats to Ecma International for ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		We want documents to be represented using a standardized, stable and open format so that the owners of the content can use and repurpose it in whatever way they want, independent of the software they used to create it.
		Paoli: Office Open XML is an open format because, as I already mentioned, the committee that will ratify Office Open XML as an open standard is open to anyone that is a member of the Ecma standards body and wants to be part of the process.
		We also provided a simple, open and royalty-free licensing program to support republication of the specification and development of format converters, and we were very happy when this program was favorably acknowledged by public sector experts like the Danish IT ministry and the European Commission’s IDA (Interchange of Data between Administrations) committee.
	www.microsoft.com /presspass/features/2005/nov05/11-21Ecma.mspx (2872 words)

	xml: (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		XML file formats allow a user to regain ownership to his/her own data, by allowing access and manipulation of office documents by arbitrary tools which support the file format.
		OASIS Open Office XML Format Technical Committee will work on creating an open XML file format for office documents, using the OpenOffice.org format as a base.
		There is demand for transformations from and into the OpenOffice.org XML format, particular for use as import and export filters.
	xml.openoffice.org (467 words)

	NSLog(@"Erik J. Barzeski"); - Apple Embraces the Open Format Movement (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		No SDK there, though the file format is open, and that's a plus.
		The Address Book is not open source, but its API is. iCal isn't open source, but it uses an open file format.
		Apple has clearly embraced the open source - and when that's not possible, the open format - movement.
	nslog.com /archives/000101.php (874 words)

	The Catch-22 of Open Format Adoption, Part 3: Office Documents \| Acts of Volition
		Having looked at music formats and instant messaging protocols, this final installment of a short series on open formats covers what may be the most ubiquitous of digital file formats: office documents.
		This open and standard format is the default format in the forthcoming OpenOffice.org 2.0 office suite, but could theoretically be implemented by other applications as well.
		The core idea behind this series on open formats and protocols is that you should not be limited in access to what you have created yourself, regardless of the tools you used to create.
	actsofvolition.com /archives/2005/june/thecatch22of2 (1923 words)

	OpenRAW - Digital Image Preservation Through Open Documentation
		To date, this vast number of RAW formats has been hidden by the transparent support offered in RAW converter software, provided by both the camera manufacturer and various third parties.
		A RAW file is a proprietary file format created by a manufacturer to contain the raw data from a digital camera.
		This site was created to give photographers and everybody interested in an open documentation of proprietary RAW formats a place to voice their opinion and to encourage camera makers to openly document their proprietary RAW formats.
	www.openraw.org (747 words)

	O'Reilly Network: SWF Is Not Flash (and Other Vectored Thoughts)
		Also, the SWF file format has been tested in the wide, wild world of the Internet, while SVG is still waiting to be generally accepted (as in being supported out of the box by all major browsers).
		While SWF is not an open standard like SVG, Macromedia does make it available to the public (readers interested in learning more are invited to visit this page), and many commercial and open source tools exist for generating and parsing SWF files.
		Sure, it would be a good move for Macromedia to make the FLA format open so the designers could move their project files from one authoring environment to another.
	www.oreillynet.com /pub/a/javascript/2002/05/24/swf_not_flash.html (1026 words)

	The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
		Yesterday's big Microsoft news was that the next version of Office will ship with a completely new file format that will be XML and open (unlike the current XML option which is closed meaning you're not supposed to be able to fiddle with it).
		Hopefully this new open format will lead to better integration between word processing suites (meaning that iWork and Office would be able to produce the same exact file type without skipping a beat).
		With their own "open" format they're hoping to hold onto as much control as they can (I'll be interested to see the actual licence).
	www.tuaw.com /2005/06/03/office-xml (775 words)

	LWN: Microsoft Challenges Massachusetts on Open-Format Plan (eWeek)
		The whole idea of open standards is that anyone with enough time and skill can implement them and that independent implementations will interoperate.
		The old MS Office formats were abysmal, but their new XML-based formats might be ok. OpenOffice is going to have to support the formats anyway.
		The formats aren't quite identical, older versions of OOo don't handle the new OD format, but at least there has been a lot of practical experience with what went into the standard in the first place -- more than can be said for some standards.
	lwn.net /Articles/151910 (2144 words)

	Googlezon: Open Document Format Approved (Goodbye DOC, XLS, PPT) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		The OpenDocument format is intended to provide an open alternative to proprietary document formats including the popular DOC, XLS, and PPT formats used by Microsoft Office.
		Organizations and individuals that store their data in an open format avoid being locked in to a single software vendor, leaving them free to switch software if their current vendor goes out of business or changes their software or licensing terms to something less favorable."
		It is maddening to be locked into the Microsoft document format.
	googlezon.blogspot.com /2005/05/open-document-format-approved-goodbye.html (344 words)

	Massachusetts mandates open-format docs, edges toward Linux
		It is the default file format for OpenOffice 2.0, currently in Beta 2.
		MS Office, which is upgraded about every three years and includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, brought in more than $11 billion last year, or about 28 percent of Microsoft's total revenue, according to the company's recently filed annual report.
		that the answer to public records management is to force a single, less functional document format on all state agencies.
	www.desktoplinux.com /news/NS3926478427.html (870 words)

	OASIS Okays Open Source Open Doc Format for Office Apps- ADTmag.com
		OpenDocument is a royalty-free, XML-based file format that covers features required by text, spreadsheets, charts and graphical documents.
		OpenDocument represents an opportunity to ensure truly open file formats for productivity applications." The standard has a good chance of succeeding because “there are not financial penalties associated with developing to it," he adds.
		OpenDocument has been designed as a package concept, enabling it to be used as a default file format for office applications with no increase in file size or loss of data integrity.
	www.adtmag.com /article.asp?id=11187 (349 words)

Try your search on: Qwika (all wikis)