128 lines
5.1 KiB
HTML
128 lines
5.1 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html>
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>Open Letter to Giancarlo Vilella, DG ITEC, European
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Parliament</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<p id="category"><a href="/activities/activities.html">Our Work</a> / <a href="/freesoftware/standards/standards.html">Overview of Open Standards</a></p>
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<p>
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Giancarlo Vilella <br/>
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Director General, DG ITEC <br/>
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European Parliament <br/>
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</p>
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<p>
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Re : Use of document and video formats in the EU Institutions
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</p>
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<p>
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Dear Mr Vilella,
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</p>
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<p>
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As you may know we are celebrating
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today <a href="http://documentfreedom.org">Document Freedom
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Day</a>. The goal of this annual event is to raise public awareness on
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information accessibility and the use of open standards. We thought
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this would be a good opportunity share with you, in your capacity as
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the Chair of the Inter-Institutional Committee for Informatics, some
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reflections on the use of document formats in the EU Institutions.
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</p>
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<p>
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We believe that the EU Institutions have a key role to play in setting
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an example for public administrations throughout Europe, and should
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embrace the opportunity to spread good practices through enlightened
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leadership.
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</p>
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<p>
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On the issue of video standards, we regret that the infrastructure for
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video-streaming of the European Parliament and the Council is still
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based on proprietary formats (Windows Media Player and Silverlight
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respectively). This is a problem for EU citizens and stakeholder
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groups wishing to participate in the legislative process without being
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forced to use the products of a single company. We have
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been <a href="http://openparliament.eu/petition">raising this
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issue</a> since 2008, when we
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were <a href="http://www.openforumeurope.org/library/open-parliament/openforum-europe-response-to-open-parliament-petition-hearing-held-on-6-11-2008/">told</a>
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that the Parliament was working on a new system for streaming that
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would be built on open standards and accessible to all. We would be
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interested to know if this project is still in development.
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</p>
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<p>
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We are appreciative of
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the <a href="https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/ec-recommends-supporting-open-document-format">recent
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efforts</a> of the Institutions to support open standards in document
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exchange and
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the <a href="https://ameliaandersdotter.eu/sites/default/files/andersdotter_annex.pdf">acknowledgement
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by the European Commission</a> [pdf] of
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“effective captivity” to a single provider for its office automation,
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although we would be interested to see the data which has led the
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Commission to claim that “the lack of choice is almost total as
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regards... productivity tools”. We are also conscious of the
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complexity of managing the infrastructure of a large user base with
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diverse needs and some of the specific challenges encountered in the
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context of a multilingual environment. Important decisions such as the
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choice of a document format should be based on user needs and a sound
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(long term) cost-benefit analysis, before any other considerations.
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</p>
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<p>
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With regards to the current situation, we regret that
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the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/informatics/oss_tech/pdf/2011-07-25_ares.pdf">decision</a> [pdf]
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made by the Inter-Institutional Committee for Informatics in 2010
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remains to be fully enforced. Indeed, to our knowledge the chosen
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format for the exchange of editable documents among the Institutions
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(OOXML) is not fully implemented in any of the applications that are
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currently used. We are also concerned that the stated external support
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for ODF <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanHeathEU/status/439036889937752064">appears to be inconsistent.</a>
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</p>
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<p>
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Throughout Europe, public administrations are increasingly adopting
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open standards. This gives them the power to choose the applications
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that are right for them and the citizens who use their services, by
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ensuring real innovation and competition between providers. Just a few
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weeks ago, the UK government published a <a href="http://standards.data.gov.uk/proposal/sharing-collaborating-government-documents">recommendation</a> on the
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formats in which editable government information should be shared and
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requested.
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</p>
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<p>
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In a recent meeting, the Inter-institutional Committee for
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Informatics <a href="http://ep-technology.tumblr.com/post/77057711660/cii-meeting-how-the-ict-supports-the-european">expressed
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the view</a> that document formats were “not a secondary issue” and
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decided to “explore the possibility of harmonizing the format of the
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documents”. We hope that these reflections will be followed up with
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action, and we remain at your entire disposal to provide help and
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guidance when and where appropriate.
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</p>
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<p>
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Sincerely,
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</p>
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<p>
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Graham Taylor
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Chief Executive
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OpenForum Europe
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</p>
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<p>
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Karsten Gerloff
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President
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Free Software Foundation Europe
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</p>
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<p>
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cc Stephen Quest, European Commission<br/>
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Maroš Šefčovič, European Commission<br/>
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Catherine Day, European Commission<br/>
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Neelie Kroes, European Commission<br/>
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Dirk Schilders, Council of the EU
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</p>
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</body>
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<description>Open letter to Giancarlo Vilella, Director General of DG ITEC, European Parliament.</description>
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</html>
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