36 Companies, associations and end-users have announcend the ODF Alliance in an effort to boost Government adoption of the OpenDocument Format

For a much more detailed analysis of what the ODF Alliance is all about, see the entry which I posted later today.

In a well-orchestrated PR bliltz, 36 Companies, associations, and end-users today announced the formation of the ODF Alliance, with the mission of globally educating:

[P]olicymakers, IT administrators and the public on the benefits and opportunities of the OpenDocument Format, to help ensure that government information, records and documents are accessible across platforms and applications, even as technologies change today and in the future.

The ODF Alliance was first proposed by IBM at meeting of key players and others held at an IBM facility in Armonk on November 4 of last year (you can read more on what transpired at that meeting here and here).

The membership comprises those companies that have to date most vocally supported ODF: (IBM, Sun and Novell), many of the companies that publicly or privately have been on the periphery of the effort (Oracle, Red Hat and Corel), some new names (EDS and EMC, as well as smaller companies), closely affiliated non-profits (e.g., OpenOffice.org and the Open Document Fellowship) as well as others, and a variety of libraries, universities and other end-users from around the world.

A variety of interviews were given pre-launch, and those that are available on the Internet thus far include articles by Steve Lohr at the New York Times (login required), Jack Loftus at Search OpenSource.com, China Martens, in the Netherlands, at WebWorld.com, and Clint Boulton at InternetNews.com.

In addition, an Editorial by Sun Chairman and CEO Scott McNealy is supposed to run in today’s Wall Street Journal under the title “Software Hardball” (the Journal is on-line only for paid subscribers). I am currently working on a much more detailed analysis of the first stories, the significance of who is (and who is not) on the membership list, and the messaging that that has accompanied the launch that I will post later this morning. [And here it is]

[To browse all prior blog entries on this story, click here]

subscribe to the free Consortium Standards Bulletin (and remember to Buy Your Books at Biff’s)