Submitted by The Danish parliament has agreed to make the use of open standards mandatory in all government agencies. “Parliament directs the government to ensure that the use of information technology, including software, within public authorities is based upon open standards. No later than January 1st, 2008, the government should introduce and maintain a set of open standards that can serve as inspiration for other public authorities. Hereafter, open standards should be a part of the basis for public authorities’ development and purchase of IT software, with the aim of furthering competition. The government should ensure that all digital information and data that public authorities exchange with citizens, corporations and institutions are available in formats based on open standards.”
WOW!
This is really amazing.
I thought they would be way too conservative to even consider this.
We can only hope that this will set an example for other governments.
Now, could someone get me a government sponsored free beer? I need to celebrate :o)
I thought the same as you did. It’s no more than a few days ago I read that Dansk Folkeparti would come up with another proposal (ændringsforslag), which would get support from Venstre and Konservative. No way had I expected everybody to agree on the proposal from RV. But I’m pleased.
Now, government sponsored free beer is a must, considering the tax rate
Slowly but surely we’ll be able to exchange documents without having to purchase expensive office suites.
I’d almost start thinking the world’s going to turn out all right. 🙂
I was going to say “… so lets hope Microsoft’s “Open”XML document formats don’t get ratified, because that would still be a valid choice.”, but then I noticed an important line from the linked page:
“freely implementable without economically, politically or legal limitations on implementation and use, and – standardized and maintained in an open forum (a so-called standards organisation) through an open process.”
damn, that is good.
The proposal was made by the Social Liberal party, not the goverment who were initially much more conservative about this, so it’s quite fantastic that it was accepted unanimously. I saw the parlamentiary treatment on television a few weeks ago and back then there was a majority FOR it, but outside of the goverment.
One thing to note: it’s only mandatory for new solutions. Existing solutions do not have to be use to open standards (but they will have to be replaced eventually when they are outdated).
some parts of sweden are looking at openoffice to see if it’s something that they can use
90-99% of swedish goverment is pro microsoft
Det är ju inte bra for er. Denne gången är er grannen mot syd bättre stillet
And sorry for ruining the Swedish language.
I’m sure the Swedish government will jump in the “Open Standards”-wagon. No good in letting us take the leading position
I thought Norway had already decided to use open standards, but I might be mistaken.
It’s possible, but I don’t think Norway has made any major decision yet – at least not with any given timeframe. But of course, I could easily be wrong.
That’s very fine decision.
It isn’t pro and contra any company or product. As it leaves for any solution provider time to think if product to propose will support or not open standards.
I don’t see any problem to anyone to add that support in next 2 years. And see if those providers are ready to fair play.
when you think about the hit denmark took recently in the worlds public opinion(the muhammed cartoon thing), i’m happy that this bill passed, so that i again can tell where i’m from (in some places) without being ashame.
We could only hope this could be something the EU could take notice off and start doing things on behalf of it citizens instead of companys.
The hit Denmark took in world public opinion are quite different, depending on which part of the world you look at
For me, this bill is but another reason to feel a certain pride for being Danish.
I hope – as you – that it will spread to other countries and EU. That would be something.
In Soviet Denmark, Standards opens YOU!
Or something like that…
I was very pleased to see this motion pass. The reason it passed unanimously was probably that the Minister of Science had a kinda mini-scandal, when it was discovered that he witheld a report from his own ministry showing that open standards would be beneficial in the long run. When the motion was discussed first (a couple of weeks ago), he and his party voted against the motion, because no report had examined the consequenses. Typical!
Soviet Denmark? LOL, from some points of view it feels very free, but it was one of the very few countries in Europe where as a foreigner I felt unwelcome to live there. The other one was Belgium (the northern part), but not quite as bad.
Lucky for Microsoft, both ODF and PDF are encumbered by patents.
Ascii anyone?
ODF is not encumbered by patents.
Everybody can use it freely as long as they don’t sue other persons/companies using the standard.
Don’t spread FUD.
It’s not limited to foreigners. Denmark is the feels unwelcome to live in for locals as well. The cold has frozen the danish hearts, and it requires a healthy portion of alcohol to melt it. Fortunately Danes drink a lot.
We do make good beer, and are good at importing good beer
But yes. Danes are generally somewhat reluctant to open up to unknown people. It has nothing to do with being a foreigner. It’s simply a matter of not knowing the person. Ever tried fitting in in a small close-knitted village? That’s a challenge, even for a Dane.
But as soon as you’ve been accepted (which is your responsibility to be) you’ll be met with warmth. But it can take years however.