On Mon, 3 May 2004 13:20:05 +0100
Timothy Murphy <tim at birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie> wrote:
> While I strongly favour Open Source
> (and never use Windows personally)
> I don't think Mary Hanafin's decision is quite as bad as you think,
> provided Open Standards means "standards approved by some international body".
> That would mean, for example, that documents could not be provided
> in .doc format, but would have to be in XML,
> in a form which could be edited by anyone.
>> It seems to be that if such rules were strictly adhered to
> then Linux-based companies would be in a good position to tender
> for public contracts.
>
My main concern is that the tone of the statement pitted open-source against open-standard. This is, of course, complete horse-hockey, but I'm worried this is also the Minister's understanding.
You may choose between open-source and closed source (openoffice vs. MS office), and you may choose in parallel between open-standards and closed standards.
I wonder what views the Minister holds on Microsoft's XML patent applications...
-fr.
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