OpenDocument Gets International Approval

This news is absolutely huge. Indirectly, it's a tremendous win for free software. As the press release states -

"The OpenDocument Format Alliance (ODF Alliance), a broad cross-section of associations, academic institutions and industry dedicated to solving the problem of improving access and retrieval of electronic government documents, today congratulated the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for its sweeping approval of the OpenDocument Format as an international standard, as well as OASIS which created and submitted the format to ISO."

ISO approval puts even more pressure on Microsoft to adopt ODF in the MS Office suite. Of course, putting off such a change is the route Microsoft will take regardless of the fact that adopting ODF would be a simple task and to the benefit of MS Office users. Microsoft must value their Office monopoly more than their own customers. Microsoft is legally bound to place profit for their shareholders above all else.

Want to help?

1. Sign this petition.
2. Whenever possible, do not use programs that fail to implement the internationally recognized and fully accessible standard of ODF.
3. If someone sends you a file format that is not vendor neutral nor publicly accessible (e.g. .doc, .xls, or .ppt), briefly explain to them why these popular formats should be rejected and suggest an alternative. For example, install OpenOffice or another Office suite that supports ODF.

In short, free your data.