Ken is right .. the issue has much to do with the obscenity of vendor lock-in. This is a great IT issue that we can discuss in class. I have done this using some of the material and examples published here:<br> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in</a><br>
<br><span class="published_date"></span>Our pluralistic world is a better place because of great teachers that deliver a rich curriculum program that is packed with assorted tools such as PHP MySQL, FileMaker Pro, MS Access, Base and yes, even Dbase III. We can say as much for word processing, languages and programming tools.<br>
<br>Our Cambodia students (we are the only secondary school in Australia
that teaches Khmer) cannot use Vista / Office2007 but happily now
engage with their language with OpenOffice3.0. When I mentioned this
once to a DEECD rep, the remark "Who cares about Cambodia" made my
blood boil.<br>
<br>Anybody who supports the recent clever abuse of the standards process <span class="published_date">and the term “open standard” can join the flat earth society along with stooges that follow vague </span>"industrial standard" terms to specify what is good for student learning. I will add them into the same pot with those that mandate particular web browsers to view online content.<br>
<span class="published_date"><br>
</span>Please, lets not fall into the trap of mandated solutions and centralised school controls on media formatting. We should instead encourage an honest debate about open standards and good practice in our IT profession.<br>
<br>Regards Roland<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2009/2/17 ken price <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kenjprice@gmail.com">kenjprice@gmail.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
The document file format problem has wider implications and is a global issue worth considering. It might even be appropriate as a curriculum topic (and hopefully not too far off topic..)<br><br>Organisations such as the European Commission and NATO have expressed concern that the use of proprietary document formats such as MS Word can lead to alienation of those people (and nations) who do not use that format for personal or financial reasons. They are also concerned that proprietary formats lock organisations into one technology.<br>
<br>Quote:<br>"Because of its specific role in society, the public sector must avoid [a
situation where] a specific product is forced on anyone interacting with it
electronically. Conversely, any document format that does not discriminate
against market actors and that can be implemented across platforms should be
encouraged. Likewise, the public sector should avoid any format that does not
safeguard equal opportunities to market actors to implement format-processing
applications, especially where this might impose product selection on the side
of citizens or businesses. In this respect standardisation initiatives will
ensure not only a fair and competitive market but will also help safeguard the
interoperability of implementing solutions whilst preserving competition and
innovation."<br><br>They have largely agreed on an Open Document format, mandated in some cases (eg all NATO correspondence). So has Australia's National Archives.<br><br>Interestingly this had some implications. As Microsoft Word was not an open standard, it would have meant that Microsoft would have been unable to tender for provision of office software across the public sector in most of Europe. Oddly enough MS quickly deveoped its own open document standard and I understand will support ODF shortly (might already do so)<br>
<br><a href="http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/3439" target="_blank">http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/3439</a> <br><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument_adoption" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument_adoption</a> <br>
<br>I guess organisations generally need to be a little cautious about seeing commercial file formats (or operating systems, or hardware design, or ...) as being standards based solely on current market penetration. There are social and ethical issues as well as practical issues to be considered here. <br>
<br>As with most things in IT, some students might find this worth investigating.<br><br>Cheers,<br>Ken Price<br>TASITE Tasmania<br><br>
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