[OpenDoc Announce] Officeshots.org is available in closed beta

Fri May 22 23:49:48 CEST 2009

Officeshots.org available in closed beta
"A free webservice lets user compare office applications"

Dear members,

on behalf of The Netherlands in Open Connection and OpenDoc Society we are 
happy to announce the immediate availability of the beta of Officeshots.org, a
free webservice that allows users to compare the output quality of office 
applications. The Officeshots project entails both an open source service 
framework, and a free online service based on this framework. The service is 
now in closed beta, exclusively available to members of the international 
OpenDoc Society and its chapters on http://www.officeshots.org (1). Since you 
are a member and/or represent a sponsor of OpenDoc Society, you can join the 
beta program.

Officeshots.org is currently running a number of factories implementing GO-OO, 
OpenOffice.org, Gnumeric, AbiWord and KOffice. We expect to quickly  
see support for a number of other factories such as Lotus Symphony, RedOffice 
(Chinese), OfficeReader (an ODF viewer for Symbian smart phones), EuroOffice, 
Softmaker Office, Aspose and Buzzword. Software vendors and user communities 
are encouraged to add their office solution of choice to Officeshots.org, to 
make  its functionality available to a wider audience. You will find all the 
documentation on the website for doing so - and we are ready to help you out. 

Please register on the site with the email address in our database (i.e. the 
one you receive this email on) at:

                                                      http://www.officeshots.org

If you are not yet a member, why not join? Your suggestions and ideas are very 
welcome. If you wish to be updated with the latest developments and get the 
announcement for the public release, please consider joining out mailing list 
at the following URL:

http://lists.opendocsociety.org/mailman/listinfo/officeshots

For more information:

  Fabrice Mous
  Netherlands in open Connection government action programme
  telnr: +31 70 888 77 17
  tel: +31 648 58 51 62
  mail: fabrice.mous [at] noiv [dot] nl

  Michiel Leenaars
  VP OpenDoc Society 
  tel: +31 6 27050947
  mail: michiel [@t] opendocsociety.org
  sip: michiel [@t] nlnet.nl

** BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Officeshots.org was first announced on January 29th 2009, with the beta phase 
of the Officeshots.org service scheduled to become active at the end of 
February or early March. A delay in supporting rendering factories caused the 
original schedule to slip but with a grant from NLnet, and support by Open IT 
Netherlands, Artietee and Abicollab.net the project is finally ready to start 
the beta phase.

So far development work within the project has concentrated on making a
safe, distributed document rendering environment that allows buyers and
developers to test interoperability in many different applications on
many different platforms. During the closed beta the visual appearance
of the main Officeshots website will be enhanced, and a translation
framework so people can assist in translating Officeshots.org to their
native language. The beta phase is expected to last until the beginning
of June, after which the service will be available freely to anyone.

Officeshots will be put to the test significantly in the first ODF Plugfest 
that will be held June 15/16th 2009 in The Royal Library in The Hague, where a 
large number of ODF implementations (from Ability to ZCubes) will test their 
interoperability on invitation by the Dutch cabinet in the person of Dutch 
Minister of Foreign Trade Frank Heemskerk: 

                                                                 http://www.odfworkshop.nl

As members of OpenDoc Society you will receive an invitation to attend this 
plugfest next week. More info on the Netherlands government policy on ODF and 
other open standards:

http://www.noiv.nl/files/Actionplan%20The%20Netherlands%20in%20Open%20Connection.pdf
- --------------------

*** About OpenDoc Society

The goal of OpenDoc Society is to bring together individuals and
organisations with a stake or interest in the openness and future of
documents to learn from each other and share knowledge. OpenDoc Society
offers a platform where developers, publishers, decision makers,
educators, vendors, IT managers, academics, writers, archivists and
other stakeholders kan bring their knowledge together and learn and
collaborate with interesting like-minded people. OpenDoc Society wants
to build local human networks of experts and stakeholders in ODF from
all areas. It want to be a leading organisation in spreading knowledge
about open format like ODF and PDF to society at large, through
publications, workshops, masterclasses, tutorials for developers,
decision makers, users and other stakeholders. It wants to foster and
strengthen the ecosystem around open document formats: from enterprise
content management, assistive software for the visually impaired up to
readers for cell phones and game consoles. OpenDoc Society is supported
by a large number of organisations, including government bodies,
international corporations, educational, cultural and scientific
institutions and NGO's .  If you care about an open information society
and a transparent market, why don't you join?

                                      More info: http://www.opendocsociety.org

Netherlands in Open Connection (Nederland Open in Verbinding)

The Netherlands in Open Connection (NOiV) informs government
organizations about the possibilities of open standards (OS) and open
source software (OSS) and encourages them, where possible to fit into
their information systems. The program is based on the Action programmes
Netherlands in Open Connection, initated by the Netherlands minister of
Foreign Trade and the state secretary of Interior and Kingdom Relations
in September 2007. The program NOiV offers practical support in the form
of information, knowledge and tools for government organizations open
source software can use. The program is executed by ICTU Foundation,
commissioned by the Ministry of Economy Affairs and the Ministry of
Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations. The activities of the program
are primarily aimed at policy makers and public sector ICT management
and their suppliers. In addition, NOiV has a coordinating role with the
parties from the government and semi-government and the private sector.

                                             More info: http://noiv.nl