Erik Moeller wrote:
On 8/9/07, Florence Devouard <Anthere9(a)yahoo.com>
wrote:
In my view, WMF has pledged for the creation of
free educational
content. It has not pledged to support open and free software.
When people can no longer participate in something we do, or when they
can no longer access information we provide, because they are running
free software, we have failed in our mission. Our mission is not about
software, that's true, but it is about spreading knowledge without
boundaries, and proprietary tools & formats can and do represent such
boundaries.
The problem is more the other way around. People have difficulty with
free software when they are trying to view it by using propritary
software. They want something that works reliably without needing to
investigate the guts of the software. A simple fix or work-around may
come easily to a computer geek, but it could take a free content editor
a whole day just to understand a problem that can ultimately be fixed by
changing a single letter.
People running free software can usually import XLS,
DOC & PPT files,
but it's clear that open document standards are critical for the long
term preservation of & access to knowledge, which includes information
we carry to the outside. Whether you end up running any specific open
source solution or not, let's try to at least archive all
presentations in an open format.
Nothing wrong with archiving. After that it's important that it be
usable by all. Files that are not accessible for technical reasons are
not really free.
Florence did relate the problem of not having PowerPoint software work
when she needs to give a speech far away from home. At home the
solution may be as simple as reaching back to a familiar place on the
bookshelf, but that option is not available on the road.
It was a very nice presentation, BTW. :-)
Absolutely!
Ec