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Free/Open Source Software: Open Standards Primer
This primer provides a rationale for the use of Open Standards in Government. Also in this primer is an overview of standards setting bodies and FOSS software and tools to create new content as well as migrate to solutions based on Open Standards.
Many public institutions like government agencies and civil society organizations are obliged by new legislation to place information in the public domain. Unfortunately many of them are using proprietary format which require members of the public to purchase or illegally copy expensive proprietary software. This primer provides a rationale for the use of Open Standards in Government.
The primer provides existing case studies on the polices and initiatives of goverments implementing open standards policies. It covers issues of patents and licensing issues with open standards implementations.
Public discussions regarding this primer at FOSS Policy and Development Implication Forum
http://lists.apdip.net/mailman/listinfo/foss-pdi
The primer can be downloaded in the following formats:
This publication is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license.
For full details of the license, please refer to the following: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/legalcode
This IOSN Primer is an initiative of UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme and supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
Feedback
- Comments from Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA)
- 3 September 2005 - Letter from Business Software Alliance(PDF)
- 26 September 2005 - Comments from Microsoft ( ODF | PDF )
- Comments from Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (PDF)
- 30 September 2005
Malaysia formally embraces open doc format
