(Updated 20 September)Â
Just heard this news from the Netherlands: On behalf of the Dutch government, Frank Heemskerk, Minister State Secretary of Economic Affairs, announced today that ODF will be the standard for reading, publishing and the exchange of information for all governmental organisations. The deadline is January 2009. Heemskerk’s announcement is just one of several initiatives about the use of open standards and open source software in Dutch government.
Dutch announcement: Ministerie van Economische Zaken – Verplicht gebruik open standaarden bij overheid
More in Dutch: The Action Plan, About Action Plan, Background article
Actually, I don’t speak Dutch (and for those who think Danes speak Dutch: No, we speak Danish!), but it’s close enough in writing that I almost can make sense of it. So big discaimer on the accuracy of the information above. See comments to this post.
I’m not sure what the exact difference between a minister and a state secretary in the Netherlands is, but assume both represent the sitting government.
I’m also not sure what they mean by an Action Plan, and what legal status such plan has.
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Frank Heemskerk, M.A., is not the Minister of Economic Affairs; he is the state secretary, which is one step down from the Minister, Maria van der Hoeven.
The article to which you have linked refers to an “action plan” written by the state secretary of Economic Affairs and supported by the state secretary of .. to accelerate the adoption of open standards and usage of open source software.
Although the government has made agreements with municipalities and other government bodies to consider open standards and open source software as a first choice, the announcement does not mean that the government will drop Microsoft documents for ODF immediately. Nothing has yet been signed into law (with the exception of open standards and open source being mentioned in the government plan for the year).
So, in short, the announcement points to an intention to stimulate OSS and open standards, but we’re quite far from every government machine running free software exclusively (or even partially).
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