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Peter Quinn Resigns
An anonymous reader writes "Andy Updegrove is reporting on his blog that Peter Quinn, CIO of Massachusetts and focus of the recent media feeding frenzy, has decided to step down. Quinn stressed that his departure does not signal any major changes in policy nor was he forced to resign. He did say that a large part of the decision was made by the Boston Globe's unfounded (and quickly disproven) charges."
The government seems really committed to its legacy information systems. Someone in a position of power finally decides to do something and is penalized for it. This is a perfect example of what's wrong with the government at all levels.
The Boston Globe's having a bad run lately. First that false story about Homeland Security checking up on library borrowing habits, and now this BS. If anyone should be gone, it's their editor.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Actually, MS is VERY conencted with all this. As soon as the choice was made to go with ODF, MS was hitting all the politicians about this. And who do the pols hit? The media. They will feed them a line of crap. After all, the globe took something and blew it way out. Of course, nobody is asking the question of how did they get ahold of it in the first place? That was not public knowledge. It was obviously an inside trip job against quinn.
Oh, this has MS ALL over it.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
I don't see how this is news, because according to http://www.consortiuminfo.org/newsblog/blog.php?ID =1863, he retired last January.
has resigned, effective January 9, 2005.
Sharing their disgrace should be Fox News reporter James Prendergast for reprinting alarmist, baseless, claims by Microsoft front organization "Americans for Technology Leadership" about OpenDocument, further speading disinformation on the whole topic.
What Peter Quinn and others in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of Information Technology was trying to do was set a sane long-term document strategy for a state government whose records include the oldest constitution in the world (predates the US Constitution.)
If we can't read documents that were generated by proprietary formats only a few years old how can we manage laws, deeds, and other material looking forward decades and centuries? At least with OpenDocument there will be a published freely re-implementable file format that can be widely used as time goes on.
As to MS claiming their formats are "open" they've sung that song over and over yet each time it has proven to be untrue as critical portions of their formats are consistently undocumented or legally encumbered. Heck they can't even reliably read back their own material from products a generation or two prior.
MS's real fear is that by breaking the cycle of locked-in file formats they'll have to compete on a level playing field with alternative products. The truth is it would take them a few days to come up with an OpenDocument converter, the same as they've done for dozens of competing formats.
Whoever hires Peter Quinn will be getting a fellow with considerable professional integrity. Whether his replacement shows the same level of honesty and dedication is a serious concern, particularly considering Governor (& future Presidential candidate) Mitt Romney's willingness to whore out critical appointments in return for special-interest campaign contributions.
I wonder how MS will be funneling the money this time? Will they be washing it through Republican stronghold Staples Corporation or through some other ersatz 'grass roots' astro-turfing front like Americans for Technology Leadership?
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
In a move that didn't sit well with many Boston residents, The Globe was bought by the NY Times. Editorial standards, even just on a basic proof-reading level, seem to have gone nowhere but down ever since.
Really a shame, because the Globe's Spotlight Team was (and still is, to some degree) an excellent group; they do in-depth investigative journalism, perhaps comparable in some ways to PBS's Frontline.
Also, if you're in the Boston area and interested in commentary on news stories of the day, tune in @7for Greater Boston, with Emily Rooney on WGBH (Channel 2), with repeats on 44, I think. The "Beat The Press" Friday episode is especially good- a panel of journalists talk about the news media's behavior over the last week. John Carroll(sp?) is a master at amusing introductions. For their end of the year episode (Dec 23, 2005) he did a complete synopsys of the White House/CIA agent leak in the style of "Hollywood Squares", which was hysterical...and very effective. It's currently watchable in quicktime format....look on the left side of the homepage for the link.
Please help metamoderate.
As PJ of Groklaw reported (and as the Boston Globe *retracted*)--Peter Quinn DID have verbal authorization for those trips and was cleared of all wrongdoing.
:)
:-/
I realize you didn't say otherwise, but I just thought it best to point that out, prominently, wherever this information is mentioned
After all, the first Boston Globe article was front page news. The retraction was burried deep in the middle of a section not many would see
Resigning in/after a scandal makes one look guilty, no?
Maybe; maybe not. In this case, the "scandal" was the charge of irregularities in his expenses for trips related to ODF adoption. A charge that was later shown to be false. But that doesn't matter. After the Boston Globe printed the story, he was branded by them as "guilty", despite their lame retraction. He could no longer be an effective proponent of the move to ODF because, thanks to the Globe, he would be busy ducking questions from reporter scrums about his trips, instead of staying on message about the benefits of moving to ODF.
Frankly, this whole thing really sucks. However, I think he did the right thing by stepping down, so that the issue would go back to ODF and not his trips.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Good. An appointed official should not be deciding the only file format that citizens of the state are allowed to use when dealing with the state. The state should use whatever software the majority of their citizens use, and not try and force them to use something else. Public officials do that all the time when they choose Microsoft format. I can't acces the local county government website because it only supports IE.
The appearance of scandal can be just as damaging as the real thing.
Basically, the reporter didn't get in contact with the guy's boss before writing his article and (falsely) implying that there was something about the trips worth investigating.
Might seem like a tempest-in-a-teapot to us, but to the people in that teapot, it was obviously a big enough issue that the guy quit.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
He didn't have to quit.
It's unfortunate he got mistreated this way. The only people he could possibly sue are at the newspaper and they're safe unless he can prove that article was written with malicious intent.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Feel free to quote Hoffman all you like because the man has no credibility.
But this highlights yet another tactic of the smear campaigns that are making a mockery of democracy in America. Start with an outlandish and dishonorable claim, such as claiming that Kerry's three Purple Hearts and Bronze medal were undeserved. Wait until the election time rather than disputing their worth in the decades since they were awarded. Then bury the counterclaims in trivia and minutiae that doesn't even have to be true; the barrage of lies and half-truths simply has to be so overwhelming that it overwhelms the common man so they tune out before the protests can be heard. The barrage of nonsense from Hoffman is simply part of this carpet-bombing media tactic.
I'm not American and I couldn't give two hoots about Kerry but I'm disgusted with the way you partisan idiots are destroying your democracy. You are turning democracy into a childish football match, with teams and cheerleaders and points to be scored. Waiting several decades before calling somebody's war record into dispute is pathetic. It is a grave dishonour to somebody who risked their life to serve your country. Everybody who defends these SBV numbskulls should be ashamed and appalled at what you've turned your political system into. Between the partisan hackery and the voting scandals your democratic process is quickly becoming the laughing stock of the world.
Pay attention to people like Jon Stewart and Stop Hurting America. Your country deserves far better than you partisan idiots are providing.