Testimonials

“Document Freedom Day celebrates the importance of Open Standards for all electronic documents, whether public or private. If we want to preserve our digital heritage we all need to select Open Standards, implementable by anyone, as our default storage choice.”

— Jeremy Allison, Samba core developer

“Open Standards lie at the heart of the Internet and much of what has emerged to function on this global and growing platform. The essence of open standards is interoperability. Adoption of open standards leads to the interworking of competitive products. By any metric, open standards lower barriers to entry into existing markets and increase consumer choice.”

— Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist, Google

“Over time, files that have been saved in closed formats tend to be less and less accessible to their creators. We prefer people to use modern and truly open formats like ODF whenever possible to ensure that they can continue to access and enjoy their work today and into the far future.”

— Chris DiBona, Open Source Manager, Google

"Open standards are the strong foundation for interoperability, competition and choice. Three cruicial things for an open, innovative and successful society."

Peter H. Ganten, Chairman of the board, OSB Alliance

“Open document formats make sure that your valuable information doesn't turn into digital toxic waste with your next upgrade to a new software. Will the software you're using now still be around in ten years' time? If the answer is no, make sure to use Open Standards to save your data.”

— Karsten Gerloff, President, Free Software Foundation Europe

"Open standards makes sense. What makes no sense is that large companies in the field still do not understand this. It is time once and for all to end the pointless nonsense of one document sent on one platform being incomprehensible to the user of another."

— Stephen Fry, actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter, film director. Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

"Culture must be free and accessible to everyone"

— Margherita Hack, astrophysicist Image: CC BY-SA 2.0

"Open Standards and Document Freedom are not only essential, but its importance is more visible as time passes by. From official documents and government websites to cientific archives or medical records, citizens in the digital era deal - or try to - with digital documents every day. It is crucial not only to ensure that they can easily do so, without obstacles, but also to prevent us from a dark future, by providing the right means of archival of all that information."

Marcos Marado, Vice-President of ANSOL

"You might think that the software you are using is the best. And you are most likely right, as you have undoubtedly looked around a lot before choosing it over the others. However, when one day somebody makes a better one, or the one you are using will stop getting updates, you will be glad that all of your files are in an open and freely exchangeable format. Are they?"

Jozef Legény, software developer

“True open standards are the key to deployer liberty. 'Libre' implementations of open standards - evolved in the open with every willing voice respected - are already at the heart of the new digital society and Document Freedom Day is to be welcomed as a celebration of the liberties we all need for our networked future.”

— Simon Phipps, Free Software developer

"Thinking about computers Open Standards are everything: they are the bricks and the cement of the Internet, and they've proved already to be trustworthy, in a way that everyone can build upon then, and that is a value that can not be measured."

Rubens A. Menezes Souza F., historian, Operating Systems docent

"Open standards should be obvious in today´s world where the information are the most valuable item on the market. Open standards themselfs force software companies to come up with better and better applications as they trigger competition on the market. The consumer, of course, only benefits from this."

Miroslav Tokarčík, owner of publishing house

“The Document Foundation was born to support software and document freedom, and the Document Freedom Day is a natural fit for the LibreOffice community of volunteers. We are involved on a daily basis in events around the world to support Open Document Format, and we are happy to contribute to the ongoing success of true open document standards.”

— Italo Vignoli, The Document Foundation

“It is great to see so many volunteers with a passion for freedom in technology. These people care deeply about the way that software and standards affect their lives, and they are taking the initiative to make sure that others can enjoy the same freedoms as them.”

— Fernanda Weiden, Vice-President, Free Software Foundation Europe

"The success of the internet is a success of Open Standards. Open Standards are promoting innovation, because it is easier to develop new products. Open Standards are adaptable and therefor support the German software industry."

Brigitte Zypries, Member of Parliament for Darmstadt, former Federal Minister of Justice Image: studio kohlmeier