"Japan has adopted a policy under which government ministries and agencies will solicit bids from software vendors whose products support internationally recognized open standards and thus becomes the first country in Asia to embrace the open software Standards, The OpenDocument Format Alliance (ODF Alliance) says in a press release (PDF).
"By giving preference to open software formats such as ODF, it is saying that information should be competitively priced, innovative, and easily available to the widest range of people, now and in the future. We hail Japan for its diligence and vision," congratulates Marino Marcich, ODF alliance Managing Director.
"Securing open standards based interoperability is critical to accelerate innovation. The interoperability framework will propel healthy competition and open up more opportunities for small and medium siye companies in Japan", says Masayuki Hayase of Justsystems Corporation.
The new guidelines are available (in Japanese) from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry."