Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft, Massachusetts, and IT
Andy Updegrove writes "A big story in Massachusetts last week was the announcement by Microsoft that it would give $30 million in software to Bay State high schools and universities. Less noticed was the fact that an important economic stimulus bill adopted by the legislature lacked the amendment that sought to gut the power of the State CIO to set any new IT policies that might require compliance with certain standards (like ODF) or favor open source software. Should these two dots be connected, and if so, how? After all, why would Microsoft reward Massachusetts for taking no action to curtail an IT policy that favored ODF and rejected Microsoft's own XML format, especially after Microsoft has by all accounts lobbied so aggressively to bring about a change? As it happens, the fact is that the game isn't over yet: I've learned that the IT policy language hasn't been permanently defeated — its just been shifted out of sight to an 'outside section' of the current budget bill."
For those software companies that don't have an academic injection strategy, I suggest you develop one.
Depending on the complexity/use of your software, you put it either in the primary schools (K-12) or secondary schools (colleges). And you make it free and secure. Use license pools/server or anything to get your product into the learning process. That's where the money is. That's where you ensure your future.
Back in my undergrad days, I had access to Matlab, Pro Engineer, Mathematica, MSDN licenses, Windows XP, Rational Rose, the list goes on. I think it was Macintosh that originally discovered that putting your technology into the hands of your youth ensures your future. Why? Because Americans are predominantly lazy and we hate to climb learning curves. Macs especially build a sort of security sense that the user is safe and the machine is super friendly.
You might call this the "bottom up" approach to seeding the public with your product. Because the students aren't customers but one day they will be raised to be customers and they will decide what will be used. If you don't believe this model works, you're a fool. Time and time again I've caught myself saying, I wish I could just script this in Matlab and let it dump it to an Excel sheet. It's not that it would be easier, it's just that I know precisely how to do computations in Matlab due to my undergrad years of using it.
Now you have Microsoft trying to stop a "top down" effect in Massachusetts. Whereby they try their "MSDN Academic Alliance" strategy targeting a state's public schools. But why are they only targeting Massachusetts? Probably because of the ODF movement in the state government. If the government mandates that everyone (schools included) use ODF files and ODF software, where does that leave Microsoft? No longer the primary tool of the children, that's where.
What's the lesson to learn from this article? The squeaky wheel gets the oil!
Not enough funding for computers and software at your school? Well then, simply alert your local media and just try to enforce the ODF standard. I think you'll find that Microsoft will suddenly come (with the national media) to meet all your software needs!
My work here is dung.
Regardless of the reasons why Microsoft donated the software the end result is that the kids are the winners. Their schools are now going to have some money that would have been spent on software that can now be spent on other things to improve their education. Motives aside, is that such a bad thing?
From the quoted article:"To be fair, the commitment of Bill Gates (at least) to education is sincere"
Apparently, that is, up until now. Maybe this is the one of the reasons he's leaving as CIO (well that and to get out of the way of Vista, since there's no Dave Culter to tell him to stop pestering the project this time). Maybe he just doesn't want to be seen as a corporate dirtbag any longer, or at least, further legitimatize real philanthropic pursuits. Then, maybe not.
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
Should these two dots be connected, and if so, how?
Please tell me you're not from the US -- please!
Because if you're from the US the question is the height of naivete and clearly demonstrates you don't have a clue about how US politics work and the levels of bribery and corruption inherent in US politics.
Sometimes donations and campaign contributions are more akin to extortion payments than bribes.
Like Microsoft's monopoly or not (I don't), they ran into problems in the late 90s because they didn't give out much campaign contributions. They learned their lesson well.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
They want the schools to use Microsoft everything. They failed to change policy that would give people choice, so now they're just giving people Microsoft software.
Having a software monopoly helps to hold the monopoly together. They're smart, so they seek to maintain their monopoly even when it causes them to lose money.
In short, this is just a good investment for Microsoft.
Microsoft is embracing Open Source, haven't you heard? It's been all over Slashdot these last few days. Don't worry about Massachusetts, look some other direction. Hey! Look over there! A two-headed chicken...
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
At the bottom of the
Microsoft offered $30 Million in *SOFTWARE* license. That's not money. That's advertising. It's the same principle as drug dealers on the corner of the street offering free shots. Once the kids are hooked, they have nowhere else to go.
The schools can keep their $30 Million in the pocket when they use Open Source software just as well. The difference being that in a year from now they can get the next version for free too...
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
Actually, yes. Unlike almost anyone else on line, I use my own name, so that people can tell when I (unlike, I'm sure, many others) offer their own writing. I've had c. 25 of my pieces taken by Slashdot, some submitted by me and some by others, presumably because the editors think I have something to say that other's would like to read - not just the news, but perspective on that news. Also, I have personally broken many of the most important stories in the ODF saga, such as Peter Quinn's resignation, the approval by ISO/IEC, and now the shifting of the public amendment to a budget bill, out of sight. - Andy (not "anonymous coward", not a pseudonym, and not with the "post anonymously block" checked)
...emmmm, it is actually nuclear weapon's launching pad :)
Yes, I know, it looks good at press, but are journalists that stupid? Honestly... 30$ milions my ass. I set a tag and give you a gift, how nice of you Bill.
user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
You can always use Octave( http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/ ).
It works great, I did most of my numeric methods assignments with Octave on Slackware, with no issues.
It is a bad thing if you want your kid to suceed in life and not just with M$ software (diploma). Giving your kid the ability to manipulate software helps your kid learn more because learning isn't subjected to "the Microsoft way of doing things". Long term sucess requires the source code (knowing how someone did that in the past).
It's almost the same as when the NFL sold out to EA. M$ is just using this as good P/R and the kids will like it because, hey, it's free stuff. Then again, some of these kids don't even know the potentially disasterous effects of using a M$ OS and neither do their teachers. Who wants to bet in a year, 50% of the software donated is infested with your everyday mal/spy/adware courtesy of their M$ OS.
hiphop-universe.com
Microsoft has a long history of donating to charity and then taking a large tax deduction for the full retail price of the product. Since the physical manufacturing costs are so low for software after the initial investment of developing it, free software for education is both a PR win for Microsoft as well as well as a great tax shelter. But more importantly the schools that accept their software will now be future customers. And, the kids that use them will grow up to be consumers. They have been doing this for some time. They even give themselves the full retail sales price deduction for the software which is not customary among corporate donators (or at least it was not in the past).
And don't forget about the anti-trust settlement which allowed them to print money in the form of free software on CDs. Now, that's a sweet deal any company would jump at. Apple's opposed the deal since it hurt them.
Yet even in the US I recently read on a republican blogger's page someone comparing emacs (she called it emac) with M$ Word and dubbing emacs of being a word processor of lesser quality.
Let's be fair here; being uninformed about what emacs is, and writing a poor comparison in her blog has NOTHING to do with being a Republican.
If Mass. can deploy OO.o or other office tools for free, then the value of M$'s office tools to those same institutions is...essentially nothing. So what we are finding is that M$ is giving away software that is being given away by others anyhow. Granted OO.o isn't the same thing, doesn't have the same shine or finish to it, and is probably several years behind M$ in terms of features, but I am willing to bet that the vast majority of schools and schoolkids won't notice the difference.
Heck, I use office products all day every day, on one machine that has M$ office, and one that has OO.o and I can't say that I have noticed a significant difference in terms of my productivity, either.
Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.
Never forget: 2 + 2 = 5 for extremely large values of 2.
Who ever posted this article needs to stop pickin' on Microsoft. After all, Billy G. is just bein' a good 'mericun. That Bill Gates finishes up his work at Microsoft in 2008? Hmmm. That thar be an election year. Maybe he'll just buy hisself a preziduncy.
Rob Enderle's excellent new book: Everything I needed to know about Computer Science I learned in Marketing School
whoa, a submitter who actually reads the comments to his submission AND REPLIES TO CRITICISM!
YES
I just mailed Bill an I.O.U. for 20 gazillion dollars (Non-negotiable. retail value:1 cent) making me the largest donators in human history. Be in awe of my charitablity!
It appears to be standard operating procedure for companies to "give away" their product to schools. They know their products will be the only thing students know when they come out of the education system, thus giving them a boost over their competition.
And of course, they get to charge for it, which in the end results in more revenue down the line.
Is this their new business model? Bribery and intimidation? Because it's not working.
Works for me...Bill Gates sent me an email saying he's gonna send me $50K if I reply to it.
>Is this their new business model? Bribery and intimidation?
"New"?
What's purple and commutes? An Abelian grape.
I'm from MA, and the schools I went to all outfitted themselves with macs. Schools (other than colleges) don't have the budget necessary to get an IT team to set the school up in linux. During one of our shop's arguments with the dean (drafting, as the only windows shop we were under constant administrative fire) he actually showed us the budget charts; It would cost more to pay someone to set everything up with linux than it does to just buy something that doesn't need to be configured. The cost to train everyone to use command line interface instead of the gui they were used to would take too much time out of the computer literacy course. In reality, with linux you can't simply set it up and leave it. Each new class of kids has to be taught how to use it. The learning curve between windows and macs was deemed to be much smaller. My school decided that having all macintosh computers would be something they could boast about. Unfortunately, schools are required (some law, according to the dean) to pay an absolute premium for the macs. Schools get no mac discount in MA. My high school had 500+/- computers, and they paid $2200 for every one. A windows box would have cost them $500 each. With the limited budgets of schools it is hard to justify running anything except windows. Interestingly enough, the macs always gave the IT shop trouble. In the four years I was there, each machine had needed repairs of some sort done at least twice. My shop (Drafting) was the only shop that had all windows computers, and we never had any problems. Our prints were kept on an old novell server, that worked flawlessly every day.
Why should the state legislate favoritism toward open source software? Aren't they supposed to be unbiased and viewing IT policies from a strictly pragmatic point of view?
You want a conspiracy -- I got one for you. Often, and mean very often, opening slashdot's front page crashes IE6/sp2/xp. Try again, and business as usual. It's as if slashdot is FORCING me to switch to some other browser. Or maybe, to switch to another OS. Or MAYBE, to not come here at all !! Then agaih, it could just be IE.
perhaps 'education' is best served by teaching students the principles of spreadsheets, wordprocessors, and presentations, rather than 'click button X to accomplish task Y'?
If that were the case, then perhaps educated students would be able to rapidly adapt to new interfaces rather than being stuck when a different product (or a new version of the product they were schooled on) is put in front of them?
IMO, kids that memorize button positions rather than learning principles are always going to be less productive, as even the same exact product will go through version changes, menus are replaced with ribbons, the UI flavor of the day (say docking windows or floating animated helpers) is tried out, etc.
IME, the real world in IT is one of constant change, and the folks best positioned to thrive there are the ones who are able to easily cope with multiple interfaces to the same basic task or principle.
...just threaten to standardize on ODF.
That is the message other states should take from this.
This isn't a reward: this is good marketing. It's marketing because it costs Microsoft next to nothing to give software away (they've already paid to create it, and MA wouldn't buy it from them -- hence, very little lost $$). However, by giving it to students, they can train future generations on their software, thus helping to lock them into Windows & Office. When these students go out into the Real World, their only software experiences will be on MS stuff -- and thus, their employers will have incentives to use MS stuff rather than retrain them for something else. It's good marketing because, as stated above, it doesn't cost MS much $$. And smart companies always jump at the chance for cheap marketing.
/dev/random
Microsoft want sheeple to eat msn happy joy pie. ... er at least... well probably the very least.
Non free software should be banned in education for the simple reason yo ucan learn about it. Yeh you can learn todays GUI but that calling using a lightswitch learning about electricity.
Still when no-one knows howto program in 20 years time and all the 1 laptop per child kids are the only ones with any smarts at least,
Do you want to be a nation of lowest common denominators ?
Maybe you are really bad at teaching your students then. The "basics" of word processing, using a spreadsheet, or creating a presentation typically apply across most office suites. Rather than teaching students to memorize exactly how Microsoft wants you to do things why not teach them to think logically and learn how to "learn" and adapt.
When I was growing up and going through grade school MS Office didn't have the monopoly it does now. I learned on Word Perfect, a bit on Lotus products, and some other package on an old Apple. Today, unfortunately, I have the great pleasure of having to work with MS Office all the time. I am still able to do my job, and quit well. So did not learning MS Office specifically in high school disadvantage me? Absolutely not!
Teach your students...don't brainwash them
Since the effective ownership of Massachusetts is well-entrenched in the east coast organized crime families and has been for more than 100 years, it should not be surprising at all that bribery of the state and local government agencies is not only commonplace, rather it's expected if you wish to do any business there. BTW, bribery is still technically against the law up there, on the books, but it is strictly taboo to enforce those laws against any of the "players" and any of their business associates.
The schools would have a lot more than $30 million if they didn't spend any money at all on commercial software, using free software instead. Free software in schools is interesting in that it's one thing that's both better and cheaper at the same time.
What constitutes a better education? Should children learn to push buttons, or should they learn the fundamentals? Using MS-Office in schools because that's what most of them will use professionally later is like having them read the National Enquirer instead of Moby Dick.
Microsoft wins when it stick a new generation of kids with its software. The kids will then be on the "Microsoft track", much more likely to use their Microsoft skills to ensure more Microsoft software is bought for them, and the people they communicate with, for the rest of their lives.
With so many colleges, Massachusetts is very influential in forming "software habits", apart from its rank as the 4th most populous state.
If Microsoft can use those "free bags" of smack to lure the state into making Microsoft's brand of junk into law, that's a big bonus. But just getting the kids hooked is worth doing, even if they have to wait for the state to require addiction.
--
make install -not war
So is Massachusetts outsourcing laws now?
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Seriously - I am a MS stockholder and I'm voicing my disgust yet the MS planted flacks here at /. are calling me a 'troll'. Well that pretty much makes my argument for me. And trust me MS'rs I won't be holding MS any longer nor buying your products. Have a nice day.
>We *wish* we could use MS Office, because that's what the students need to know when the enter the workforce.
That would indeed be a laudable goal, if Microsoft didn't keep releasing new (and incompatible) versions of Office every few years.
I'll bet by the time your students get out into the workplace, Office 20xx will be as different from Office 2003 as Office 2003 was from Office 2000.
My learning curve on the basics of Office was pretty short. As was my learning curve on OpenOffice. Sure there are differences, but once you learn one, anything similar is pretty easy. My kids picked up OpenOffice right away after using Office 97.
How true. None of us our real name anywhere, or even provide their real email address (especially one that's obviously connected to their name).
While I respect your decision to link your online persona with your real world identity, that stance is hardly unique - or even all that rare. In other words, don't sprain your wrist patting yourself on the back.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Students are supposed to learn concepts, not specific commands (that's what vocational training is for).
OOo is a standard modern office suite. In fact, OOo is probably a better tool for learning the concepts because many features are available more cleanly and rationally in OOo than in MS Office. Furthermore, because OOo is so similar so MS Office, students actually do effectively learn MS Office as well.
Teaching MS Office is also a disservice because it basically puts students on a path where they will end up paying thousands of dollars over their lifetime to Microsoft, for functionality they could get for free.
Proprietors will reduce their price to lock in an audience. Pursuing free and open standards is better than focusing on price or an efficient development methodology.
Andy Updegrove asks:
They wouldn't and they probably aren't, but they see that they are meeting organized opposition and Microsoft can't get as far as they'd like to get based on lies. The people fighting this pro-ODF have not fallen into the trap of saying it's all about money, thus they are able to pursue an argument which no proprietor can combat: value the freedom to read, share, archive, and modify these documents any time you want, for any reason, and value these freedoms for their own sake. Don't archive your work in file formats that are underdocumented, encumbered by patents, or unavailable to the public on free terms or else you risk not being able to pursue your archival mission in the forseeable future.
Digital Citizen
I'm from MA, and the schools I went to all outfitted themselves with macs. Schools (other than colleges) don't have the budget necessary to get an IT team to set the school up in linux.
i believe that a salesman (apple?) told you that. i do not believe it is true.
During one of our shop's arguments with the dean (drafting, as the only windows shop we were under constant administrative fire) he actually showed us the budget charts; It would cost more to pay someone to set everything up with linux than it does to just buy something that doesn't need to be configured.
th edean does not know what s/he's doing. imho, the dean is incompetent if this is his conclusion.
1. standardize on hardware (mac does this, it is cheaper to do it with white box stuff).
2. develop one image of a functional OS + apps.
3. mirror the hard drive and install in 1,000s of computers.
this is soooooooo much LESS expensive, it is silly.
The cost to train everyone to use command line interface instead of the gui they were used to would take too much time out of the computer literacy course.
is that what the sales drone told you? funny, my linux hasa gui. i guess the sales drone probably showed your dean a command line only server install and told him it was a desktop. the dean should *really* get educated before making million dollar decisions.
In reality, with linux you can't simply set it up and leave it.
uh, that *exactly* what you can do with it. i browse the web with a gui. i burn cds/dvds with a gui. i mount partitions with a gui. my office software is a gui. my file manager is a gui. i watch dvds with a gui.
your dean did himself a grave disservice letting a sales droid convince him his economicly vested interest was actually the truth. it was a hockey sales pitch. i bet your dean over paid for his car, too. after all, "everyone loves this vehicle for [insert $10k over current full sticker price]"
i do have to go to the command line to unzip or unrara password protected volumes. there may be a gui way to do it - and i just don't know it.
use gui file manager to go to directory with zip o rrar, click F4, type "unzip [filename]" or "unrar e [filename]", click enter, enter password, click enter - DONE.
dead easy.
my bittorrent program is a gui. my file joiner program is a gui. my IDE is a gui.
what is your dean talking about? what linux did the sales drone show him?
Each new class of kids has to be taught how to use it.
"now James, click this icon to open your word processor."
"NO! WAAAAAAAAAAH! I WAAAAAAANT MYYYYYY MOOOOOOOOOMY! THAAAAAAAT ICOOOOOOOON IS SOOOOOOOO COOOOONFUUUUUUSING! I WAAAAAAAAANT WINDOWS!"
come on!
educate yourself before spewing such nonsense.
The learning curve between windows and macs was deemed to be much smaller.
by who? the mac has a command line, too. when doing some kinds of admin stuff, you have to drop to the command line, too.
why is the BSD command line on the mac acceptable and the linux commandline isn't? oh, you don't know? imagine that!!!
My school decided that having all macintosh computers would be something they could boast about.
that's what the sales drone said, no? "buy are overpriced stuff and you will not only be able to compute, you will *feeeeeeeeeeeel* sooooooo goooooood about yourself, too." translation - fill my pocket with money and you will fill good about yourself.
duh, i'm the dean and, duh, you must be right, mr. sales drone! duh, here's the check. can i go to the bathroom now, mr. sales drone? can i have a hall pass? prwetty pwease?
Unfortunately, schools are required (some law, according to the dean) to pay an absolute premium for the macs. Schools get no mac discount in MA.
given the lack of intelligence and lack of negotiating skills by your dean, they probably could charge them double. after all,
It is the 13th most populous, with less than 7 million residents.
I can't believe I have to say this again. I didn't do the deeming. I wasn't my decision, I'm just a student. Don't flame me like an incestous redneck. I posted what the administration gave as it's reasons for persuing IT the way it did. Don't shoot the messenger. How many adults actually know what they are doind anyways? Ever heard of the adminisphere? We probably could have bought a new lathe for the machine shop with that money, they really needed one. But, it wasn't up to me. Don't forget that our shop was the one that asked about the switch. We wantedf to explore linux. I thought it would look great as a side note in my senior project. AND YES THE NOVELL SERVER WAS HOOKED UP TO THE NET. We played unreal tournemant during lunch break. The electronics kids played starcraft. We used to stream movies all day when our teacher wasn't looking. It was later our tenure there that we realized he knew about it anyways, which sucked.
"I think it was Macintosh that originally discovered that putting your technology into the hands of your youth ensures your future."
hmph! companies have been targetting young ones ever since Joe Camel...
I don't feel like it...
Not blaming you for the decision, only for so adamantly defending it.
I got nuthin
Our school was driven by a different conflict anyways. Graphics was always so snooty, and the got all the funding (that they don't need. I refuse to believe photoshop costs the $2mill a year they got). They started the whole "up with macintosh" plague. Drafting was the only shop with windows, and every day we had to explain why macs don't run CAD stuff. Even that, I don't know about. I never tried to install cad software on a mac to see if it took it. I guess MA is bloated with money. The state just throws money at the schools and lets them play with it. So, whatever happens, chances are it will change by the next financial quarter anyways. I think of our school as better than it really is because we tie in with the community. When we are seniors, the shops get together and build houses. Drafting makes the prints, House Carpentry, Building and grounds, Electrical, Plumbing, and the rest build about 20 houses each year, and sell them for break-even to families that need them. About 3/4 of the graduationg class get a job halfway through their senior year, and spend one week at work and then one week at school. It's very impressive compared to any other school in the state. About 800 kids apply every year, even though we only take three hundred-ish.
No, kids will always still buy whatever their parents get for them, which usually happens through marketing, or whatever they have at work, etc. The schools haven't had any real power over this, ever.
So 50k machines out and say $300 per seat (IMO way too low but ...) equals $15M USD in hardware upgrade costs.
Before people freak clearly some machines would need replacing anyways but how many could be still used if they running something like ubuntu, xubuntu (lighter system requirements than the stock ubuntu) or even pupply gnu/linux? Why not phase in the upgrades and squeak an extra year or two out of the older hardware?
This is not a dig against MS but at the MA elected folks that agreed to this IMO costly "gift".
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity but they've always worked for me" - HST
Yeah, in the drug-dealer-esque "Hey, kid, want some candy" kind of way, I guess you could say it's good marketing
for interface standards in productivity apps:-). Then the manufacturor of the application would have the same weight as it does in choosing a QWERTY keyboard, all the main menu items would be in the same place (though some apps. might add custom 'function' menus or more compact or extended layouts), and arguing that all students use the product of a particular software maker would make about as much sense as mandating all students use Dell keyboards:-).
Kind of interesting, QWERTY is still the primary user interface, and such a state evolved almost entirely by accident (or due to original conditions few even think about:-).
I remember when I went to college in (well, we won't say exactly when), IBM had given the college I attended a mainframe for free for the students to use, with about 80 terminals. Then, DEC made an issue of it because it was unfair competition, so IBM simply started charging for it instead (at least at my college, it kinda backfired on DEC)...
Now however, IBM benefits from open source, and might just remember that they were involved in a case that could be a precident for such giveaways. Either that, or realize that the lid's now off and start giving free linux computers to schools all over again... Microsoft is not the only one who can play that particular game...
"This blatant unethical borderline criminal behavior makes me sick. A) it's wrong and B) the fucking stock hasn't moved an inch since 1998. Who the hell do they think they're kidding anymore??"
Excuse me flack, how is this paranoid or 'kookie'? Tell Ballmer I said hey.
The main reason it is not a bad thing is because most jobs in this country that aren't purely physical labor require the knowledge of Microsoft Office applications.
So, if all schoolchildren learned OpenOffice (e.g.) instead of MS Office, then industry would stop and the American populous would be un-employable?
I'm trying to see how you're not arguing for government subsidies for Microsoft. Would you support a Voc. Ed. auto mechanics class that only taught how to fix Toyota?
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Open Office Download: $0.00
Open Office License: $0.00
Open Office Upgrades and Patches: $0.00
Total Saved for Other Things: $0.00
Freedom from product lock in: priceless
The text of the law appears to be in Section 322 of the Senate budget ... go to
0 0.htm
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/st02/st025
and scroll way down. Here is what is says:
SECTION 322. Said chapter 7 is hereby further amended by adding the
following section:
Section 57. (a) There shall be a commonwealth information technology
expert task force, referred to in this section as the task force,
consisting of the chief information officer of the information
technology division, the supervisor of records, the state archivist, 2
members to be appointed by the governor (1 of whom shall be a
representative of the business community with experience in the
telecommunications industry, and 1 of whom shall be a representative
of the business community with experience in information technology),
the state treasurer or his designee, the state secretary or his
designee, and the state auditor or his designee. Citizen members of
the task force shall be appointed for terms of 3 years or until a
successor is appointed. Citizen members shall be eligible to be
reappointed and shall serve without compensation. The supervisor of
records shall act as the chair of the task force. The state archivist
shall act as the task force secretary.
(b) The task force shall make recommendations concerning government
information technology policy and practices. The task force shall
issue an annual report to the governor, the general court, each
constitutional officer and to the chief information officers of each
city and town if requested and may issue additional reports from time
to time. The task force recommendations shall address, but not be
limited to, the following matters: (1) procurement policies by
commonwealth agencies, constitutional offices, and other government
entities concerning computer hardware and software, cellular
telephones, personal data accessories, and other information
technology devices; (2) format and content of web pages maintained by
commonwealth agencies, constitutional offices, and other government
entities; and (3) software standards governing commonwealth agencies,
constitutional offices, and other government entities.
In offering recommendations, the task force's analysis shall include,
but not be limited to, the following considerations:
(1) cost-benefit analysis of proposed policies or practices;
(2) security of proposed policies or practices from viruses, hacking,
and other breaches; (3) the extent to which the proposed policy or
practice results in user-friendly applications for commonwealth
employees, business entities, and members of the public; and (4)
proposals and options to facilitate more efficient transactions
between commonwealth entities and the public, including on-line
transactions.
No agency, department or municipality shall adopt or implement any
technology policy, practice or standard concerning information
technology standards or systems or the procurement or use of hardware,
software, and cellular phones and other electronic devices, without
the affirmative approval of the task force by majority vote. Any
policy, practice or standard concerning the creation, storage or
archiving of documents or materials shall also be approved by the
supervisor of public records and the records conservation board, and
shall be certified by the state auditor as maintaining or enhancing
the commonwealth's compliance with Section 508 of the federal
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1973.
They were probably already using .DOC anyway. Whether they're switching to ODF from MSXML or from MSDOC, what difference does it make? The same reason to change still remains.
Twinstiq, game news
Even if the law did pass it does not mean that another one could not be passed to reverse it, jack abramas did this game when he got one casino closed and then he went to the one that got closed and offered to get them back in biz.