[DMCA-Activists] BetaNews: Mass. to Dump Microsoft Office by 2007

[Seth Johnson]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [A2k] BetaNews: Mass. to Dump Microsoft Office by 2007
Date: Tue, 06 Sep 2005 15:53:22 +0200
From: Thiru Balasubramaniam <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden, address@hidden



http://www.betanews.com/article/Mass_to_Dump_Microsoft_Office_by_2007/1125591719


  Mass. to Dump Microsoft Office by 2007


    By Nate Mook <mailto:address@hidden>, BetaNews


      September 1, 2005, 12:21 PM

Massachusetts is moving forward with a plan to transition from
proprietary document formats to XML-based open standards. But the
latest draft of the proposal includes one notable change:
Microsoft Office is no longer considered an open format and thus
is not sanctioned for use.

Two years ago, Massachusetts officials embarked on an ambitious
project to promote the use of open source and open standards
software within the state government. The goal was to save money
that would have been spent licensing expensive proprietary
software and ensure interoperability between agencies.

"The Commonwealth defines open formats as specifications for data
file formats that are based on an underlying open standard,
developed by an open community, affirmed and maintained by a
standards body and are fully documented and publicly available,"
reads the guidelines.

Massachusetts chose the OpenDocument format as suitable for use,
and will require all office applications to support the standard.
OpenDocument, otherwise known as the OASIS Open Document Format
for Office Applications
<http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=office>,
is supported by OpenOffice.org, StarOffice, KOffice, and IBM
Workplace.

The commonwealth established a deadline of January 1, 2007 for
migrating to applications that work with OpenDocument. "Any
acquisition of new office applications must support the
OpenDocument standard," the policy says.

Microsoft Office 2003 -- by far the most popular office suite
used by the majority of businesses and governments -- would not
be acceptable under the new rules. In January, Microsoft
endeavored to strike a deal
<http://www.betanews.com/article/Analyst_MS_Office_Formats_Not_Open/1107211516>
with Massachusetts that would recognize Office 2003 as an "open
standard."

Office 2003 is based on XML, but the format uses proprietary
schemas that are guarded under complex Microsoft licenses.
Redmond's chief XML architect Jean Paoli attempted to appease
Massachusetts in an open letter
<http://www.microsoft.com/office/xml/janletter.mspx> issued in
January.

"We are acknowledging that end users who merely open and read
government documents that are saved as Office XML files within
software programs will not violate the license," Paoli said.

The move seemed to work, and Massachusetts Secretary of
Administration and Finance Eric Kriss said that Microsoft has
"made representations to us recently they are planning to modify
that license, and we believe, if they do so in the way that we
understand that they have spoken about...the next iteration of
the Open Format standard will include some Microsoft proprietary
formats."

But the latest draft specification
<http://www.mass.gov/portal/index.jsp?pageID=itdterminal&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Policies%2c+Standards+%26+Legal&L2=Drafts+for+Review&sid=Aitd&b=terminalcontent&f=policies_standards_ETRM_v3dot5draft_information&csid=Aitd>,
which is available for review until September 9, makes no mention
of Microsoft - except acknowledging that the migration will not
be easy.

"Given the majority of Executive Department agencies currently
use office applications such as MS Office, Lotus Notes and
WordPerfect that produce documents in proprietary formats, the
magnitude of the migration effort to this new open standard is
considerable," the specification reads.

Adobe's PDF format will be allowed, although the version of PDF
used must support XML.

In a statement
<http://www.mass.gov/portal/index.jsp?pageID=itdterminal&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Policies%2c+Standards+%26+Legal&L2=Open+Standards&sid=Aitd&b=terminalcontent&f=policies_standards_ETRMVersion3.0PublicReviewandOpenFormats&csid=Aitd>,
Massachusetts' chief information officer, Peter Quinn, hinted
that discussions with industry representatives may have swayed
the commonwealth away from Microsoft formats.

"These discussions have centered on open formats particularly as
they relate to office documents, their importance for the current
and future accessibility of government records, and the relative
"openness" of the format options available to us," Quinn said.

"This new draft version...identifies the newly ratified OASIS
Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) as
our standard for office documents."

Microsoft could, however, receive a reprieve when it launches
Office 12 in late 2006. The new suite will be based around
completely new file formats dubbed Open Office XML, which are
fully documented and royalty free. Although Micorsoft's formats
will not be defined by a standards body, Microsoft's Paoli told
BetaNews, "It can be used by and interoperable with others."

Paoli added that it was too early to say whether or not Office 12
will support the OASIS OpenDocument standard.




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