[Mr. K]

If Microsoft gives in and supports this format then other states can force Microsoft to do what they want.

If Microsoft does NOT support it then MA will have thousands of state workers annoyed when they can no longer use Microsoft Word.

This arbitrary decision to support a not widely used new format is stupidity on the part of MA and reminds me of the many 'open source' zealots who insist on that for the 'good of mankind' (like socialists and liberals)

How many companies or people need 'open source' ("Here Grammaw - you can program your own operating systems functions")

[N3WBI3]

If Microsoft gives in and supports this format then other states can force Microsoft to do what they want.

Yes I am furious that the elected government of MA which is beholden to the people would decide to store all of its information in a format not owned by a single company in WA. Are you seriously saying its a bad thing when a Democratically elected government makes data format ownership public?

How many companies or people need 'open source'

This is not about open source! Star Office is not GPL opensource and it supports ODL, Corel will have it out by the end of the year. Hell, Even MS may someday support it. ODL is an open standard not open source. But hey, if it gives you something to complain about, no matter how little you actually understand it, have fun..

[Redcloak]

MA will have thousands of state workers annoyed when they can no longer use Microsoft Word.

At which point, those employees will discover that one word processor is pretty much like any other word processor. WordPerfect is Word is OpenOffice is Kword is Abiword is...

Just because you learned to drive in a Ford, that doesn't mean that you can't drive a Chevrolet.