[Year 12 IT Apps] ITA List document sharing

[Roland Gesthuizen]

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:
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in

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.

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.

Anybody who supports the recent clever abuse of the standards process and
the term “open standard” can join the flat earth society along with stooges
that follow vague "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.

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.

Regards Roland

2009/2/17 ken price <kenjprice at gmail.com>

> 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..)
>
> 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.
>
> Quote:
> "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."
>
> They have largely agreed on an Open Document format, mandated in some cases
> (eg all NATO correspondence). So has Australia's National Archives.
>
> 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)
>
> http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/3439
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument_adoption
>
> 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.
>
> As with most things in IT, some students might find this worth
> investigating.
>
> Cheers,
> Ken Price
> TASITE Tasmania
>
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-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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