The People's Republic of Massachusetts is looking to dump Micro$oft if it doesn't come up with more open source formatting in its document products.
Pretty much the smart thing to do in reality. That way no one would be limited in their ability to access/use documents from the state.
Of course, Micro$oft doesn't like it:
Funny that usually markets define what they want and manufacturers try to match their product to the need. Micro$oft does just the opposite. Nothing they do is fully compliant with any open standard, and they fight like hell to keep it that way. Working for a small company that has had security products for Micro$oft OS, I've heard the horrors of even getting them to discuss why there would be an issue. But Bill Gates isn't trying for a monopoly, oh no.
The state of Massachusetts will revamp its digital output during the next 16 months to create only open-format documents and is increasing its use of Linux and free and open source software (FOSS) among its workers, the state's chief information officer told DesktopLinux.com Thursday in a conference call.and
The state said Wednesday that starting on Jan. 1, 2007, all electronic documents created by state employees could be saved in only two format types: OpenDocument, which is used in open source applications such as OpenOffice.org, and the Adobe-created Portable Document File (PDF). OpenDocument can be used for saving documents such as letters, spreadsheets, tables, and graphical presentations. It is the default file format for OpenOffice 2.0, currently in Beta 2.Heh.
Pretty much the smart thing to do in reality. That way no one would be limited in their ability to access/use documents from the state.
Of course, Micro$oft doesn't like it:
Alan Yates, general manager of Information Worker Business Strategy at Microsoft, told DesktopLinux.com: "We do not believe ... that the answer to public records management is to force a single, less functional document format on all state agencies.Micro$oft again is digging in to resist making life easier for everyone. I'd guess that it wouldn't be that difficult to have some template form in their product that would be just an OpenSource style. That would be the simplest, but you can bet that Micro$oft will make it so that it is really hard to use and will look really horrible.
"The proposed policy is inconsistent with ongoing dialogues Microsoft is having with other Massachusetts state agencies about how Microsoft products can best meet their data and records requirements for a variety of data types -- ranging from traditional documents to pictures, audio, video, voice, voice-over-IP, data, database schema, webpages, and XML information.
Funny that usually markets define what they want and manufacturers try to match their product to the need. Micro$oft does just the opposite. Nothing they do is fully compliant with any open standard, and they fight like hell to keep it that way. Working for a small company that has had security products for Micro$oft OS, I've heard the horrors of even getting them to discuss why there would be an issue. But Bill Gates isn't trying for a monopoly, oh no.
2 comments:
I realize I'm a bit of a Microsoft whore, but why doesn't the state go with XML as a standard. That's totally supported by MS products and it's more open source than PDF's for goodness sake.
Well, let's see. Usually open standards allow other people to have a say as to what is in that standard.
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