Deployment of Open Standards in the Public Administration

Open Source Software is receiving an increasing attention in the public administration. The aim of the paper is to discuss the deployment of open source software for office automation and to present a synthesis of the up to date status. It is intended to sensitize provosts and policy makers regarding the value and benefits of open standards in public administration. The article explains why anyone would choose an open standard format for office documents, instead of the obsolete binary formats. The responsibility of the public sector to protect the permanently, open and free access to public documents is emphasized. Switching the IT systems to open source and open standards can solve the problems with significant financial benefits. One available open source software solution in the field, the Open Office suite, is presented as a viable and free alternative to commercial products. The article reviews next the existent competing open standards - OpenDocument and OpenXML. Finally, the measures and efforts implied to make a non invasive migration to open technologies are presented