[odf-discuss] OpenDocument, PDF/A and long term data availability, was: Three steps to Open Source in the Church

[M. Fioretti]

On Thu, Jan 03, 2008 19:54:27 PM +0100, Bart Hanssens
(bart.hanssens at skynet.be) wrote:

> It's rather ironic we can read paper manuscripts written by Shakespeare 
> himself, but unable to retrieve the data created in our childhood.

see this article and the presentation linked from it for more on this
topic:                       http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8727

> Anyway, that's precisely the reason why PDF/A was conceived...

No, not really. PDF/A is only to preserve what the _printed_ version
of a document looked like. It completely loses spreadsheet formulas,
versions, macros, some metadata, etc... which may be very relevant to
find out quickly who messed with a document or how some conclusions
were obtained (think a government spreadsheet calculating election
results, a scientific paper proving or disproving global warming...)

> Of course, ODF might do the trick as well, _if_ you're able to remove 
> external dependencies like commercial or uncommon fonts, links to other 
> files..

For hidden traps in OpenDocument, see
http://robertogaloppini.net/2007/04/01/file-format-hidden-traps-in-opendocument-or-any-other-open-standard-and-how-to-avoid-them/
and my Novatica article linked from there

Of course, feedback is welcome!

Happy 2008,
			Marco
-- 
Your own civil rights and the quality of your life heavily depend on how
software is used *around* you:            http://digifreedom.net/node/84