South Africa plumps for Open Documents

The South African government is to adopt Open Document Format (ODF) as its preferred standard for software interoperability.

ODF is a file format used for office documents such as word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. It is an international standard recognised by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization), and a rival to Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) specification.

In a report focused on interoperability, minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi wrote that ODF adoption would "ensure the enhancement of interoperability across government", adding: "To this end, this updated [report] contains an explicit definition of open standards as well as the inclusion of the ISO Open Document Format."

According to the South African government, some of the criteria for a standard to be considered open are that it should be maintained by a non-commercial organisation, that it must be possible for anyone to copy, distribute and use free of charge and that the intellectual rights required to implement the standard are irrevocably available without any royalties attached.

OOXML failed to achieve ISO certification in September.

Tom Espiner writes for ZDNet UK