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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.
The early audio recording of the two hour meeting between the CIO's office and various members of the vendor population including the idiot... I mean, the representative of Microsoft, is really amazing. If you haven't heard it, I suggest you do a little digging and find it.
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-
The Ludwig von Mises Institute. The reasoning individuals economics
You're missing the point. The Mass. move isn't to OpenOffice, it's to OpenDocument. What they choose to run is a different story. OOo and Wordperfect, for example, plan to support. Microsoft only plans to import it, I believe, and that only recently. Microsoft if fighting the standard. The idea that this state government is moving to OOo is an extension of the MS PR machine. Get everyone worried about losing Office and an outcry will ensue. Nevermind the fact that they're locking themselves into perpetual licensing fees and a proprietary format. Hey, the vendor's benevolent so what's the harm, right?
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.
If things were too efficient and easy to change, you could waking up in a police state overnight.
Abstinence is a government conspiracy. www.SafeSexZone.co
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.
XML is the best data format; unless your data needs to be read or written by a human or a computer.
That's a great idea! I can shell out to MS for a Windows license and then downl... oh wait, we're back to where we started. Not to mention that I can't send in anything to my government... it's supposed to be two-way. Instead of this roundabout, I'm honestly and genuinely interested in hearing your justification for a government ever storing public documents in a closed format. I've never been able to come up with one, but I'd love to hear it.
- fader
I was happy to read someone describing Microsoft Office as a 'legacy system'.
"If you think the problem is bad now, just wait until we've solved it." --- Arthur Kasspe