Hello,
I would like to publish that for Document Freedom day and I would like your feedback before as well as your propositions to make it a better text.
http://hugoroy.eu/open-standards-att.php
= Send me attachments I can read, use open standards! =
There are many ways to share documents, files and data over the Internet. Among them, emails are often used to do so, because whoever has an email address can send and receive emails freely. People from one mail server[1] to another can communicate without any difficulty. Why is it working so simply? Because emails are designed to use a set of open standards[2], based on the Internet protocols.
However sometimes, people send attachments along with their emails, and it happens frequently that the attachments cannot be read by your correspondent. For example, many attached files are documents produced by word processors and they can be impossible to read correctly if you don't have the same word processor.
This is often the case when using proprietary word processors. These programs don't use open standards, but they use proprietary file formats[3] instead. In 2002, a campaign was started to put an end to Word attachments. However, this is also true for all kinds of documents and files: texts, spreadsheets, slides, videos, etc.
When you attach a file to an email, please make sure that your correspondent will be able to read your files correctly. It is a basic principle of courtesy. There is an easy way to make sure it is possible: use open standards. If you do so, your correspondent will have the possibility to choose which program he or she wants.
Moreover, by promoting open standards you will help everyone: sharing documents can be as easy as sending and receiving emails! If you receive an email using proprietary file formats, don't hesitate to share this page.
Campaigns for Open Standards
* Document Freedom Day * Play Ogg and rOgg On!
Organisations and Software supporting Open Standards
* OpenOffice.org * VideoLan, the project making VLC * Free Software Foundation Europe support Open Standards
Footnotes:
1. ^ Mail servers transfer emails from one computer to another. For more information, you can read the Wikipedia 2. ^ Open Standards are protocols and file formats that can be freely used and implemented, and are designed in an open process. For more information, see the Open Standards definition. 3. ^ Microsoft Office by default save your files in the ".doc" format or the ".docx" format. If you share these documents with people using different word processors, it will not be working properly. Good alternatives for Microsoft Word are documents in .RTF or in .ODT (use the "Save As" feature)