Plucked from my aggregator at 5:56 AM:
April 2008. That’s the date when the notoriously progressive Dutch government goes open source. The plan was approved unanimously yesterday in a meeting of two parliamentary commissions. The policy dictates that government organizations at the national level must be ready to save documents in the Open Document Format (ODF) by April, and the state and local level by 2009. Use of proprietary software and file formats from the likes of Microsoft will have to be justified under the new policy. The government expects to save $8.8 million a year on city housing registers alone by making the switch.
You can read the AP article here.
Now it’s time to go do some real writing and sip some coffee.
This is an amazing step! Albeit by a country that is always on the leading edge. But just think how things may change…it boggles the mind!
“Now it’s time to go do some real writing […]”
If you’re using an Office product, do so with one that fully supports ODF. 🙂
*All* European countries have an obligation to move to Open Source where it provides a similar or better service than proprietary software or tools. The German state is already about 95% OS, Scotland, if I get my way, will be moving more towards this figure, too 🙂