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Massachusetts' CIO Defends Move to OpenDocument

Posted by Zonk on from the back-off-stick-wavers dept.

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.

4 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. Influenced by Microsoft? by danielk1982 · · Score: -1, Troll


    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.

    So the *only* reason someone might think that sticking with a product that is used by 90% of market (formats included) is that they were influenced by Microsoft?

    There are pros and cons of going either way (MS or OSS) but this decision sounds like it was made by pure ideology.

    acheco took exception to Hamel's remarks and first asked if she believed these groups were in fact "wholly owned subsidiaries of Microsoft," before asking if she believed they had been "bought" by the software giant.

    "Those are your words, not mine senator," Hamel replied to both questions.

    Yes, but thats clearly what you wanted to imply isn't Linda?

  2. Re:Any Hot Guys Here? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Trick Please, I already gots me a shorty. Peace Out, Nigg.

  3. you fa2Il it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    a BSD box (a PPII the developer knows for sure what I8sisted that

  4. Re:Step in the right directions-steady as she goes by Bob_Robertson · · Score: -1, Troll

    the money may go to areas and programs that are underfunded.

    Non-sequiter. There is no such thing as an "underfunded" government program. Since all money is taken at gun point from taxpayers, there are only degrees of extortion.

    To argue that something is "underfunded" would require an entitlement to the labor of others. Being entitled to the labor of someone else has a very specific dictionary definition: slavery.

    --
    The Ludwig von Mises Institute. The reasoning individuals economics