Massachusetts' CIO Defends Move to OpenDocument 274
Mark Brunelli writes "A public hearing concerning Massachusetts' plan to dump Microsoft for OpenDocument featured a fair share of controversy as the state's CIO tried to fight off naysayers. Linda Hamel, the general counsel for the Massachusetts Information Technology Department (ITD), suggested that groups that oppose the OpenDocument file format standard might be influenced by Microsoft." We reported on the bounce back against the OpenDocument move this past weekend.
$50M verses $5M (Score:5, Interesting)
The CIO did make one very interesting statement about money. $50M in order to get Office-12, because of license fees, OS and hardware upgrades, for something that cannot even be tested at this time.
In comparison, to roll out OpenOffice to every state employee, including training (which never seems to be in the pro-Microsoft column), $5M. Mostly because there is no hardware or OS upgrade requirement since OpenOffice runs on everything. Today. Now. Including using the document specification they really want, which Microsoft says they have no plans on supporting.
Fascinating. Foot, rifle, Microsoft pulls trigger.
Bob-
What a stupid thing to say! (Score:2, Interesting)
I do find it interesting to note that the National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science is criticizing the move and I think they offer legitimate reasons for using Microsoft products-- that is, until OpenDocument supports the same braille readers and other screen-reader programs. If the blind state workers are using MS products and the other state workers are using OpenDocument, I'd think that might cause some problems. The article didn't mention any specific fixes for that, so hopefully they thought that one through. However, based upon the fallacious logic, I'm assuming they (or at least Ms. Hamel) don't think things through all the time.
Re:OpenDoc (Score:2, Interesting)
Remember that Microsoft has made OfficeXML the default file format in the upcoming Office 12, so some sort of shift seems inevitable. That sort of transition was probably taken as an opportunity to consider alternatives, which is how OpenDocument got its big break.
I'd work more towards
PDFs are one of their file formats (in fact it led Microsoft to support PDFs natively in Office), however it's more of an output format rather than a working format.
Re:How very /. of him! (Score:5, Interesting)
More people, more companies, and more governments need to really stand on MS's neck on this and get them to support standard formats. MS doesn't want to because then they have to TRULY compete with other software. Now if Office is so great, why not just support the format? Why not say, "okay, we'll support it and beat you on equal footing!" The mark of a champion is that he will beat you at your best. MS wants to take out your quarterback's legs, get rid of the instant replay and challenge system, AND make you play on their home field before they'll even join the game.
When are people going to realize they are the software industry equivilents to rapists and pedophiles.
Embrace and Extend Strategy (Score:2, Interesting)
I think the obvious outcome of this and similar efforts will be that Microsoft puts all the actual content of Office documents in some sort of open format, and "extends" that format to support all the goodies such as fancy formatting, macros, Excel formulas, and so on. The extensions will be proprietary and for the most part not accessible to open-source programs, but the base content will be easy to get at.
Since Word is following Pages [apple.com] in its future approach to document formatting, a lot of those extras will be used by people who aren't necessarily trying to do anything fancy.
The end result will be that MS satisfies open format requirements, since you can get at the goods, but anybody who wants to work with the documents in real life will need Office. In other words, what we have today, with more documentation and more bureaucracy.
Complaint about RelaxNG and acceptance (Score:3, Interesting)
It's good that government is a bit inefficient (Score:5, Interesting)
If things were too efficient and easy to change, you could waking up in a police state overnight.
Re:The end of his speech: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Influenced by Microsoft? (Score:4, Interesting)
No, I dont think that is what was said. And the fact is, that many of the polical organizations that are jumping into this arguement receive much of their funding from MS. Are you saying that MS funds these groups without thinking that it will bias the output?
I actually went through most of the submitted comments on the Mass website, and most of those opposed were from political organizations losting MS as a major contributor or founding member.
I don't believe that Linda was implying that these organizations are wholly owned subsidiaries of MS, but the connection to MS funding is clear.
Re:Influenced by Microsoft? (Score:3, Interesting)
"Those are your words, not mine senator," Hamel replied to both questions.
Yes, but thats clearly what you wanted to imply isn't Linda?
I believe the correct phrase to use here would be "Yes, but that's clearly what the facts you've presented here imply, isn't it Linda?
I love how you depict the whole thing as being about ideologies. You know how some people buy cell phones on contract, then later when they are dissatisfied with the service they are screwed, while other people buy cell phones and pay as you go plans so they are free to change providers should the need arise? This is the same thing. The CIO doesn't think tying the future of government documents to a single convicted monopolists patent protected format is a wise idea, and that is his determination to make.
There is no practical difficulty preventing Microsoft from stepping up to the plate and giving them what meets their needs, they're simply refusing to do so. It would be like if I went to a dealership to buy a truck for pulling stumps out of my yard and after failing to lease me a sportscar they went to all my family and friends telling them about how stupid I was for insisting on a truck and attempting to force me to lease a sportscar.
Technical issues aside, financial issues aside, who in their right mind would want to deal with a company that treats their customers that way? They've clearly demonstrated that if you get involved with them and you don't bend when they rattle their zipper, they'll attack you personally and publicly in an effort to have you replaced with someone more pliable. As in, it's not just dangerous for your company to deal with them, it's dangerous for your career as well.
Re:Damn Microsoft (Score:4, Interesting)
Microsoft Office == Legacy System (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Damn Microsoft (Score:1, Interesting)
b) The Microsoft solution isn't even available yet for testing; OOo has finished testing and released.
c) The Microsoft solution will not run on old computers.
d) The Microsoft solution costs money for the upgrades.
e) The Microsoft solution, being a new XML-based format, will cause users to have to deal with document format change anyway. Now is the perfect time for MA to do this.
f) Blind users will not be locked out of the new format, even if Microsoft holds firm on the refusal to make a filter for the new format. Someone else could make a filter; OOo already has excellent import and export of Word documents; and if OOo has inadequate support for blind users, that can and will be fixed. The short-term annoyance of the blind users is NOT a good reason to stop a change that in the long-term benefits everyone (including those same blind users).
g) The new format means that all users, including blind users, can choose among multiple competing products. Don't like OOo? Try AbiWord, KOffice, WordPerfect, etc. And I think MS will give in and support the new format once this is a done deal.
h) I don't think MS is completely evil. But it's clear that OpenDocument is a good thing for the users, better in fact than MS's upcoming new format. OpenDocument can be better than MS XML without MS XML being completely bad.
OpenDocument/Braille Readers (Score:2, Interesting)
I'll gladly contribute some time to help towards filling the gaps in.
Re:Damn Microsoft (Score:1, Interesting)
"Open", my arse.
"You can freely write software to help promote our shit as long as it helps us get a new monopoly", that's more like it.