OpenStandards.net - A not-for-profit organization connecting people to open standards and the bodies that build and foster their growth. Open Design Alliance - An association of CAD customers and vendors committed to promoting open, industry-standard formats for the exchange of CAD data. History, members, FAQs, and published papers. Why There Are Not GIF Files on GNU Pages - Advocates against the use of image formats that are protected by patents. Presents a brief history of the GIF format as well as its open alternatives. We Can Put an End to Word Attachments - Richard Stallman's arguments against the use of proprietary formats in document exchange. MS-Word Is Not a Document Exchange Format - Explains the appropriate use of document formats and argues against the use of Word attachments. No Proprietary Binary Data Formats - Why not use proprietary formats and what are the main open alternatives. Avoid E-Mail Attachments, Especially Microsoft Word - Short document with instructions to MS-Word users on alternatives they can use for document exchange. Business Case for Open Standards - Paper investigating economical issues related to the diffusion of public standards. Cover Pages: Patents and Open Standards - Investigates the effects of patent proliferation and criticizes reasonable and non-discriminatory license terms (RAND) for patented technologies. W3C Patent Policy - Governs the handling of patents in the process of producing Web standards. The goal of this policy is to assure that Recommendations produced under this policy can be implemented on a Royalty-Free (RF) basis. Attachments in Proprietary Formats Considered Harmful - Explains the risks of exchanging data in non-public format and suggests the main alternatives. Why Not Word! - Why not using Word, Excel or any other proprietary format to communicate. Open Standards - What is a standard, what is an open standard, and why use open standards on the Internet. The Principles of Open Standards - Ken Krechmer analyzes the distinct issues behind advocacy for non-proprietary formats. Open Data Format Initiative - Initiative aiming to convince software companies to release data format documentation and to pass laws that governments can only store user data in open format. Presents its manifesto, forum, news, links to institutional resolutions. Burn All GIFs - Campaign for replacing the (formerly) patent-encumbered GIF format by open standard graphics. Since the GIF formats has become patent-free, the site advocates against software patents. Content Management and Edit Data Exchange - Article on formats interoperability in audio and video content. Software versus Protocol (or file format) Standards - Essay by Erik Fair explaining how open standards may help mitigate or prevent "customer lock-in" strategies. Document Freedom Day - Aims to educate the public about the importance of Free Document Formats and Open Standards in general. Coordinates activities that happen on last Wednesday of March, celebrated as the Document Freedom Day. Open Municipal Geodata (OMG) Standard - Seeks to promote the free flow of information between government agencies and citizens by establishing a common set of technical standards for organizing and sharing public data.