Massachusetts' CIO Defends Move to OpenDocument

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.

Comments

Re:Microshaft Influened?

[ergo98]

This line kills me: "OpenDocument file format standard might be influenced by Microsoft." Why?

It's currently reading as - "suggested that groups that oppose the OpenDocument file format standard might be influenced by Microsoft."

Of course the meaning is that some believe that the big backlash recently (with every "grassroots" group announcing their beefs with the move to OpenDocument) is the result of Microsoft lobbying, which isn't an inconceivable idea.

God Damn it, Zonk!

[Anonymous Coward]

We reported on the bounce back against the OpenDoc move this past weekend.

OpenDoc is not the same thing as OpenDocument. If you need to shorten it, you can say ODF.

Re:OpenDoc

[aaronl]

PDF is only good for fixed content. Anything that you're going to be working with the data in you can't put into a format like that! If it's headed for an archive, then PDF is a fine way to do it. If it's a MS Word .doc now, then it's probably best to convert it to an editable format, so OpenDocument.

Realistically, if your project to convert things is happening now, what else would you convert to? OpenDocument already has good support, is a very clearly defined format, and is unencumbered. It's also easy to work with to generate documents from other data.

FSF have a interesting report from the meeting

[H4x0r Jim Duggan]

FSF have a lengthy and interesting report from yesterdays meeting

Re:$50M verses $5M

[Benanov]

However, OpenOffice.org does run on Windows 98, which MA has stated they have computers running it. Office 12 will not run on Win 98.

Re:$50M verses $5M

[WhiteWolf666]

What planet are you from?

Of the below, only Office 12, OpenOffice.org 1.1.5, and OpenOffice.org 2.0 have XML document format support. Office 12 is MSXML, and OpenOffice.org are OpenDoc.

Oh, and don't tell me they shouldn't upgrade from Office 2000, or Office 97, or whatever. I'm 100% Massachusetts has a site licensing policy; Office 2000 went End-of-Life on 6/30/2004. Office XP goes End-of-life on June 30, 2006. Neither of these makes for a good, forward-looking 'upgrade'. It's going to have to be 2003 or newer.

Office 12 preliminary system requirements:
Microsoft Office 12 will run on Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later, or the Windows Longhorn client. Server components will require Windows Server 2003 or later and, potentially, SQL Server 2000 or later. Office 12 will support x64 platforms natively, though it's not clear whether this support will ship in the box with the initial release, or later as a separate add-on.
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/office12_prev iew1.asp

Microsoft Office 2003 system requirements:
To use Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003, you need:
Component Requirement
Computer and processor
Personal computer with an Intel Pentium 233-MHz or faster processor (Pentium III recommended); optional installation of Business Contact Manager for Outlook® 2003 requires a 450-MHz or faster processor (Pentium III recommended)
Memory
128 MB of RAM or greater; optional installation of Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2003 requires 256 MB of RAM
Hard disk
400 MB of available hard-disk space; optional installation files cache (recommended) requires an additional 200 MB of available hard-disk space; optional installation of Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2003 requires an additional 190 MB of available hard-disk space

OpenOffice.org system requirements, version 2.0:
Microsoft Windows

* Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 (Service Pack 2 or higher), Windows XP, Windows 2003
* 128 Mbytes RAM
* 200 Mbytes available disk space
* 800 x 600 or higher resolution with at least 256 colors

Solaris: SPARC platform edition

* Solaris 8 OS or higher
* 128 Mbytes RAM
* 250 Mbytes available disk space
* X-Server with 800 x 600 or higher resolution with at least 256 colors

Solaris: x86 platform edition

* Solaris 8 OS or higher
* 128 Mbytes RAM
* 250 Mbytes available disk space
* X-Server with 800 x 600 or higher resolution with at least 256 colors

Linux:

* Linux kernel version 2.2.13 or higher, glibc2 version 2.2.0 or higher
* 128 Mbytes RAM
* 200 Mbytes available disk space
* X-Server with 800 x 600 or higher resolution with at least 256 colors

System Requirements for OpenOffice.org 1.1.x
Windows

Microsoft Windows 98, ME, NT (Service Pack 6 or higher), 2000 or XP

Pentium compatible PC, 64 MB RAM, 250 MB available hard disk space
GNU/Linux ("Linux")

Glibc 2.2.0 or newer

Pentium compatible PC, 64 MB RAM, 300 MB available hard disk space

X server and graphics card capable of 800x600 resolution

Performance testing, OpenOffice.org versus MS Office 2003:
http://www.matt13.com/computer/open_office_or_ms_o ffice/

OpenOffice.org uses less CPU, less RAM, and far less Hard Disk space.

Does OpenOffice.org start slower on