Giving in to Microsoft

All faculties at the University of Oslo (UiO), with the exception of the Faculty of Theology, have uploaded documents for the spring term in the Word or Powerpoint format. This is a violation of the state’s new rules regarding open formats on documents. The consequence of this is that students must have software that can process Microsoft formats. If not, they risk not being able to access study material from the UiO website.

– When UiO uploads information concerning studies in Word format, the students must have this software in order to access the document. This goes against the resolution that has been passed regarding open formats, says Heidi Arnesen Austlid, director of the Norwegian Open Source Competence Center – a state-financed centre that works with getting public institutions to use open source software.

Even though the free software suite OpenOffice can handle Microsoft formats, the intention is that UiO should move away from Word and Powerpoint, and replace these with the open formats HTML, PDF and ODF.

– Universities and university colleges have a huge responsibility towards their students when it comes to following up on this, so that students can use open and free software if they want to, Austlid says.

Plan to inform

The University Center for Information Technology (USIT) is responsible for IT services at UiO, and is supposed to make sure that employees upload documents that comply with the rules. Director of IT Lars Inge Oftedal admits that the information that has been given to staff has not been good enough.

– We have made the necessary adjustments for this, but I do not know how much it is being used.

– Are staff aware that they must now upload documents in other formats?

– The information has been sent to the university director and the Information Department. It is absolutely possible that the information may not have been good enough, says the director of IT.

The Information Department has planned to inform the employees about the new standards.

– We have not given out any information regarding this yet due to a delay, but we are planning to do this as soon as possible, says Hildegunn Lunden, senior advisor at the Information Department.

– Shouldn’t this information have come sooner?

– Absolutely, this is unfortunate and we accept the criticism, Lunden says.

Want free competition

Communications advisor in the Ministry of Government Administration and Reform Helge Kvandal says that the goal of this regulation is to move away from totalitarian software:

– Users should not be forced to use the same software as those who are publicizing the documents; it should be up to the individual to choose which software they want to use to access public information. If the state forces you to use one type of software, then this will have consequences for the competition in the software market, Kvandal says.

Press Officer at Microsoft Norway, Eirik Lae Solberg, would like their preferred open format, Open XML, to be included in the list of obligatory formats.

– The obligatory format ODF will mean that for example the formulas in Excel spreadsheets will be lost in the conversion to the open format.

– Isn’t this just because you want as many people as possible to buy Microsoft’s software?

– No, the format is owned by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), so anyone can use it with their software. We believe that those who use Microsoft Office do so because they prefer our functions and our user friendliness, and are therefore willing to pay the extra money, says Solheim.