Replies

"Uh what about PDF then? Taxachussettes gave them a an exemption from the requirement? But any time Adobe can change the standard because they own it."

Indeed, but they apparently lacked an alternative to PDF, and were thusly forced into using it. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything which would act as an appropriate replacement for PDF.

"Also taxachussettes set the standard so tight so that it isn't allowed to grow as technology grows. I'm sure that's good for gov't too."

You've never done work with a bank's technology base, eh? What you've described has worked extraordinarily well in numerous can't-fail implementations. Hanging out on the bleeding edge of technology is a good way to drop yourself into a support-laced Hell on Earth. Getting something that works and using the heck out of it brings TCO way, way down. That said, there's nothing to say the standard itself can't expand over time based on new technologies becoming available. Various vendors will decide for themselves how to implement these new changes. Those sorts of decisions potentially affect TCO. Since virtually every standard changes over time, it's best to have competition among vendors using the standard so as to keep TCO low and support quality high. Once again, competition is good.

"Why not just pass a requirement that says all systems must be able to use wordperfect formatting from version 1.0 (I'm sure wordperfect would open their standard up if they said that)."

Does that standard contain all the necessary features? Is it widely supported by various vendors?

"except for PDF because we like Adobe and they aren't Microsoft."

Without having any viable alternative to PDF, what, precisely, would you have them do?

Indeed, but they apparently lacked an alternative to PDF, and were thusly forced into using it. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything which would act as an appropriate replacement for PDF.

Really? How about not using it? Why do they need to use PDF at all? They can use their ODF for all document storage.