[ Thanks to M.
Fioretti for this link. ]
“As I already explained in another article file formats
are extremely important: unless, at least in Public Administrations
(PAs), only open file formats are used, serious amounts of public
money can go to waste, important public digital documents may
become unreadable and private citizens or businesses may be forced
to useless expenses if they want to interact with PAs.“That’s why every now and then you see law proposals (not
necessarily complete…) that promote open file formats and another
potential source of big savings for PAs, Free Software). The
Italian Region of Veneto, for example, issued such a law in
2008.“I have already explained how and why, according to the Italian
Government, the file formats of Microsoft Office are NOT open,
inviting citizens to not accept the current situation. During the
official presentation in Belluno, Veneto, of the regional law on
Free Software and Open Formats mentioned above, I met a small
entrepreneur of a nearby town, S. Stefano di Cadore, Ezio, who has
done just that. In February 2010 Ezio wrote to me that at least in
one case in Belluno (one of the Provinces of the Veneto Region), it
looks like that regional law had never been written. Here’s a
synthesis of what he told me.”