April User Group:: ODF what's in it for you?

The Open Document Format (ODF) standard has been developed by a variety of organizations and is publicly accessible. This means it can be implemented into any system, be it open source or a closed proprietary product,without royalties. The ODF is intended to provide an open alternative to proprietary document formats so organizations and individuals can enjoy document portability, a common taxonomy and vendor independence.

Public entities (e.g. federal, state and local governments) have a unique obligation to their customers (i.e. the taxpayer) that private sector enterprises do not. From accessibility, to availability, to archiving, public documents must withstand a higher level of scrutiny all the while operating within the confines of strict public budgets. ODF plays a crucial role filling that requirement.

Join BostonPHP along with Tim Vaverchak (Manager of Shared Services from the Commonwealth of MA IT Division) and Greg Rundlett (Technical Services Manager from OASIS) discuss the Commonwealth's business reasons for deploying ODF and the technical/PHP methodology to access, manipulate and create ODF documents.

OASIS - http://www.oasis-open.org/home/index.php: OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards.