ODF Alliance

Uptime Computing is committed to breaking the strangle hold proprietary software has on everyone.  Most people do not realize the huge amount of damage that vendor lock-in does to companies and people. As prices for every part of a PC computer have fallen drastically over the years, the software those computers run has remained constant. The reason for this is the complete lack of competition in some parts of the software market.  At Uptime Computing we see the results of this problem every day. One of the biggest contributors to this problem is the Microsoft Word and Excel file formats. Governments and private organizations are constantly forced to upgrade their software, at great cost, to keep away from "forced obsolescence." Many people do not realize that there is an alternative to these formats that is open for any companies to write programs that use them. If we all used these open formats, the Open Document Format, we could begin creating, exchanging, and editing documents without having to pay Microsoft $350 for every computer we use to do these things.

Uptime Computing is a proud member of the ODF Alliance . The ODF Alliance focuses of promoting the Open Document Format around the world. The alliance worked with Texas State Senator Juan Hinojosa to draft legislation requiring the state to use open formats for its digital document.  You can find the press release, including a quote from Jake Knobloch of Uptime Computing.


*ODF ALLIANCE MISSION*

As documents and services are increasingly transformed from paper to electronic form, there is a growing problem that governments and their constituents may not be able to access, retrieve and use critical records, information and documents in the future. To enable the public sector to have greater control over and direct management of their own records, information and documents, the ODF Alliance seeks to promote and advance the use of OpenDocument Format (ODF) as the primary document format for governments.

The alliance works globally to educate policymakers, IT administrators and the public on the benefits and opportunities of the OpenDocument Format, to help ensure that government information, records and documents are fully and natively accessible across platforms and applications, even as technologies change.