Saving the World from Microsoft's DOC Format: How Governments Can Transition to Open Formats for Documents.

One of the most important policy issues for governments is the issue of information autonomy and control over its public records and related electronic document formats. This article argues governments should switch away from proprietary standards to open standards for documents. Several competing document formats are analyzed from an economic, institutional, social, and technological basis. The resulting analysis finds that governments should focus on adopting the OpenDocument Format. The article next suggests several strategies governments and public interest groups can take to move towards wider adoption of open standards for document formats. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]