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Massachusetts set to switch off Microsoft | |
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| Time: 11:42 EST/16:42 GMT | News Source: Financial Times | Posted By: Andre Da Costa | ||
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The state of Massachusetts has laid out a plan to switch all its workers away from Microsoft's Word, Excel and other desktop software applications, delivering what would be one of the most significant setbacks to the software company's battle against open source software in its home market. The state said on Wednesday that all electronic documents “created and saved” by state employees would have to be based on open formats, with the switch to start at the beginning of 2007. | ||
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| #1 By 9589 (65.191.133.160) at 9/2/2005 1:52:03 PM |
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Its a race!!!!
Which one will win???? My bet is on neither . . . Neither Munich nor Mass. will make the conversion. By the way, aren't we due for an update on the Munich conversion from Microsoft based technologies to open sore? What has it been now - going on three years and no conversion has taken place. Hint: They are still "studying" the problem. lol |
| #2 By 6859 (206.156.242.39) at 9/2/2005 3:40:57 PM |
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The problem they're encountering is that there are some bits of software for which there is no non-Windows analogue. And some of them don't run under WINE (I know, because I have some here at work that won't run under WINE.)
Woe is Linux...until they can run (or have a software pkg that runs natively that does the same thing) Windows will continue to dominate. Addendum: one of the packages is a Windows 3.1 app that has no upward equiv, and no Linux capability and WINE won't run it. Kinda funny. |
| #3 By 3653 (68.52.61.116) at 9/2/2005 6:48:43 PM |
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Did you just say...
Woe is Linux...until they can run Windows... Windows will continue to dominate. |
| #4 By 20505 (216.102.144.11) at 9/2/2005 11:13:26 PM |
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Am I missing something here? The article states that all “documents” need to be created and saved in an open format.
All this means to me is that they are transitioning to Open Office. There is no mention of OSs here or any other type of desktop program for that matter. Honestly I anticipate all governmental agencies at some point will transition to open formats. Makes sense. By the way, is PDF an open format as mentioned in this article? I was always under the impression that this is a proprietary format owned and controlled by Adobe. |
| #5 By 32132 (207.81.85.238) at 9/3/2005 1:41:12 PM |
| Ahhh ... Massachusetts. Where murderers keep getting elected Senator. |
| #6 By 16302 (64.201.211.161) at 9/3/2005 6:27:10 PM |
| So, why are they rejecting the Microsoft .doc format while at the same time accepting the Adobe .pdf format? Sounds unreasonable to me. If they are considering that the public should be able to access (as in read) the documents, they should consider that there are royalty-free readers out there. Instead of mandating a single format (which is very bad for innovation and will become a thorn in their side), why don't they set the standard that there has to be a reader available on Windows, Mac, and Linux platform that is royalty free? This would be consistent with their desire to include Adobe .pdf format and would not be so prejudicial to any company (including Microsoft). |
| #7 By 12071 (203.206.251.56) at 9/4/2005 8:01:31 AM |
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#6 "rejecting the Microsoft .doc format while at the same time accepting the Adobe .pdf format"
PDF is an open format - http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/pdf/index_reference.html. "public should be able to access (as in read)" No, the public/consumers should be able to both read and write the documents royalty-free. The public/consumers can do this with PDF, they cannot do it with .doc. "why don't they set the standard that there has to be a reader available on Windows, Mac, and Linux platform that is royalty free?" Perhaps because they've decided that there should be both a reader and writer available across all the platforms that is royalty free. |
| #8 By 3653 (68.52.61.116) at 9/4/2005 2:57:34 PM |
| First germany, then massachusetts. Sounds about right. |
| #9 By 32132 (207.81.85.238) at 9/4/2005 9:25:25 PM |
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The difference between .pdf and .doc is that every year or so Adobe extends the pdf format to incorporate new functionality without input from a standards body, while Microsoft extends the doc format without input from a standards body every 2 or 3 years.
On the other hand, the Office XML format (http://www.microsoft.com/office/xml/default.mspx) which came out with Office 2003 is open and royalty-free. This really is just an anti-Microsoft tirade. http://www.microsoft.com/office/xml/overview.mspx "Making available the Office 2003 XML Reference Schemas has received support from governments around the world, such as the Danish government. They have taken a leading role in embracing forward-thinking IT policies and developments that deliver real-world value for its citizens. The Danish Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation's ambitious InfoStructureBase project seeks to encourage exchange of information across the Danish Public Sector by creating a repository of XML schemas. Using the royalty-free license of the Office 2003 XML Reference Schemas, the Danish government is better realizing its objective of promoting data exchange and interoperability." |
| #10 By 32132 (207.81.85.238) at 9/4/2005 9:34:17 PM |
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#7 http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/pdf/PDFReference16.pdf
"The general idea of using an interchange format for electronic documents is in the public domain. Anyone is free to devise a set of unique data structures and operators that define an interchange format for electronic documents. However, Adobe Systems Incorporated owns the copyright for the particular data structures and operators and the written specification constituting the interchange format called the Portable Document Format. Thus, these elements of the Portable Document Format may not be copied without Adobe’s permission. Adobe will enforce its copyright. " Should an "open standard" be able to enforce DRM with copyright? "Authors of software that accepts input in the form of the Portable Document Format must make reasonable efforts to ensure that the software they create respects the access permissions and permissions controls listed in Table 3.20 of this specification, to the extent that they are used in any particular document. These access permissions express the rights that the document’s author has granted to users of the document. It is the responsibility of Portable Document Format consumer software to respect the author’s intent." This post was edited by NotParker on Sunday, September 04, 2005 at 21:36. |
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