RSSOpenDocument Gets ISO Certification
By Ed Oswald | Published May 3, 2006, 12:12 PM
The OpenDocument Format Alliance said Wednesday that it had won approval of ODF as an standard by the International Organization for Standardization. The approval ends a two-year process by ODF supporters to have the format officially recognized.
In May 2004, OASIS was urged by the European Commission's Interchange of Data between Administrations Management Committee to submit ODF to the ISO. OASIS obliged, which led to a vote that ended on May 1.
The ODF Alliance believes that the ratification of the format as a standard will help its adoption across Europe. Under European Union directives, ISO standards are officially recognized.
"There's no doubt that this broad vote of support will serve as a springboard for adoption and use of ODF around the world," ODF Alliance executive Director Mario Marcich said. "At the same time, it also represents a milestone for the ODF Alliance, which in just weeks has seen a groundswell of support and continues to grow everyday."
Since its inception in early March, the ODF Alliance has grown from 38 members to over 150. The group's primary goal is to promote the use of ODF within government organizations as a way to ensure that public data will always be viewable no matter what application is used.
"The ODF Alliance intends to build on this successful vote by working with governments around the world to adopt the OpenDocument Format," Marcich said. "We believe access to public records and essential services should never be restricted to users of a particular brand of software or computer platform."
To RIJP: ISO 9000 is a standard of quality used in corporations. The ISO certification that this article refers to is completely different. They certified ODF as an ipso facto international standard, in the same way that they certified the photographic film sensativity rating system (which is why we now look at the ISO rating of a film instead of the ASA rating). It merely means that if you want to create software that reads or writes to ODF, you now have a set international standard you have to comply with.
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|"Seein' as how the VP is such a VIP, shouldn't we keep the VC on the QT cause if it leaks in the VC we could end up an MIA and then we'd all be put on KP"
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|- Good Morning Vietnam!
(Robin Williams / Airman A1C Adrian Cronauer)
1987
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|ISO doesn't mean anything. It just means you have a system, and you follow it. ISO comes in and verifies you follow your own system. Big deal. This is more important to Europeans than to Ameridcan business, because very few American Companies have ISO 9000 certifcation. Many distribution and manufacturing have ISO, because documenting an assembly line is easy..
I still say, we already have an open document format, its called HTML. What's the problem with that? Or RTF. If you don't like Word, there are a few other ALREADY in place, we really don't need another format.
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|You do know what the I in ISO stands for???
There's more to ISO than ISO9000
You use ISO standards all the time without knowing it, for example ISO9660 Standard for CD/DVD file structures.
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|Its not really the same thing. Yes, I know what ISO is, our company is ISO. We went through an ISO Audit for 2 years to prove compliance.
I did this with 2 different companies. I know more than I care to know about ISO. ISO standard on a CD is *NOT* the same thing we are talking about. The ISO standard on a CD is compliance for CD's ONLY. Read my post, its a process, or better yet go to ISO9000 website yourself.
They are talking about adopting ODF as an ISO standard, you dweeb.
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|Exactly. Which means anyone building a program to support ODF can now look at the standards required and achieve ISO recognition for their program, guaranteeing compatibility.
ISO9000 is just one standard (for companies), and it has no bearing at all on the ODF standard.
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|Yeah, this guy needs a get a clue instead of going around spitting out irrelevant garbage. Not to mention trying to downplay the significance of a big step like this for the ODF format.
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|Silence; I command thee! LOL
Please take up some more education and in the process, learn to reference the specific ISO standard and not simply your "company is ISO," but rather your "company is ISO 9000 certified."
If you're company "is ISO," we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Thank you.
P.S. For reference, this "is" ISO: http://www.iso.org
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|Always quick on the trigger but slow with the draw. That's why you have holes in your shoes.
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