Achieving Openness: a closer look at ODF & OOXML

"An open, XML-based standard for displaying and storing data files (text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations) offers a new and promising approach to data storage and document exchange among office applications. A comparison of the two XML-based formats – OpenDocument Format (“ODF”) and Office Open XML (“OOXML”) – across widely accepted “openness” criteria has revealed substantial differences"

http://fussnotes.typepad.com/Achieving_Openness_1point0.html

If I ruled Wales - Ideas flood in for assembly laws

"The ideas sent in to If I Ruled Wales range from banning the sale of houses as holiday homes, to providing free school transport for all pupils."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6750121.stm

Internet breathes life into dying languages

"Welsh language expert David Crystal said the Internet could forestall the dismal fate of about half of the world's 6,500 languages, which are doomed to extinction by the end of the 21st century at a rate of about two language deaths a month."

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSL1210117120070612?src=061207_1106_ARTICLE_PROMO_also_on_reuters&pageNumber=2&sp=true

Origin of Deja Vu Pinpointed

The brain cranks out memories near its center, in a looped wishbone of tissue called the hippocampus. But a new study suggests only a small chunk of it, called the dentate gyrus, is responsible for “episodic” memories—information that allows us to tell similar places and situations apart. ...

http://www.livescience.com/health/070607_deja_vu.html

Draft International Standard ISO/IEC 29500 Information technology. Office Open XML file formats

OpenXML is an ECMA standard which has been submitted to ISO for endorsement as an international standard using the "fast-track" procedure. According to the ECMA standard "Office Open XML (OpenXML) is a proposed open standard for word-processing documents, presentations, and spreadsheets that can be freely implemented by multiple applications on multiple platforms. Its publication benefits organizations that intend to implement applications capable of using the format, commercial and governmental entities that procure such software, and educators or authors who teach the format ...

http://www.bsi-global.com/en/Standards-and-Publications/Industry-Sectors/ICT/ICT-standards/BS-ISOIEC-2950-DPC/?recid=587


The relevant BSI Technical Committee has set up a special panel to consider the UK position on the document and to submit technical comments.

Please return the comments form electronically by 30 June 2007 to:

csc@bsi-global.com

101 Really Useful Websites

The net's not just about eBay and MySpace. The ingenious sites here can transform your life in the real world. Want to be first in line for gig tickets, find free parking or get paid to shop? It's all just a click away.

http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2640824.ece

Thanks

"Sincere thanks never gets old. In fact, research shows people in high performance cultures need praise from their supervisor at least every seven days."

https://www.thanks.com/ideasHelpful.jsp