Galvin attacks software proposal

Boston Globe ^ | 25 October 2005 | Hiawatha Bray

[ShadowAce]

More information on the MA ODF decisions...

[Semper Paratus]

Microsoft has moblilized their cadres and will find plenty of 'rats In Mass. to take the bait.

[Little Bill]

Whose Brother in Law stands to loose money?

[cloud8]

"Galvin's office did not provide any further explanation about the reasons for their objections."

That Galvin is sure on the cutting edge of technology, all right.

[ClearCase_guy]

Whose Brother in Law stands to loose money?

Money? You're worried about Money? I'm more concerned about Lautrec! Who stands to loose Lautrec?

Not me. I prefer the Impressionists.

[N3WBI3]

Wow so a Liberal Democratic politician in MA who's name is mentioned as someone who might run for Governor opposes this move by a Republican Governor...

This has to put some hurt on the argument this is a move embraced by MA libs when Galvin comes out against it..

[ShadowAce]

I was wondering howlong it would take for someone to mention that angle. I was betting against GE, BTW. :)

[kpp_kpp]

gov: openness = bad

it'll keep future electronic document conversion experts employed trying to figure out how to read an Office 2003 .doc file 50 years from now.

[ShadowAce]

it'll keep future electronic document conversion experts in India/Vietnam/China employed trying to figure out how to read an Office 2003 .doc file 50 years from now.

Fixed it. :)

[N3WBI3]

lol, safe bet.

I really like the part of the article which also quotes an administration official saying ms office is fine so long as software is installed that lets it save into ODF.

This is more and more panning out the way I thought it would, there are filters out there that will get used until MS implements ODF..

[SouthernBoyupNorth]

Wonder how much $$$ Microsquat paid him.....

[Little Bill]

Yes, the blues are impressive, the interplay of light and Shadow, Renoir, the Master. For the most part I prefer West Country Ales.

[steve-b]

Galvin's office did not provide any further explanation about the reasons for their objections.

Well, duh. Galvin is hardly going to just spontaneously confess to accepting a bribe from Microsoft.

[steve-b]

Microsoft Office has features to help users with limited eyesight. Pacheco said he has received questions from state employees worried they might not be able to use the new file format.

What a crock. Software to magnify a section of a screen display will do so without regard for the source of the information displayed at the moment.

[Bush2000]

State Senator Marc R. Pacheco, Democrat of Taunton, chairman of the Senate's Committee on Post Audit and Oversight, said he asked Quinn months ago for a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the software changeover. ''We never received it until just recently, after a second request," Pacheco said. He has forwarded the analysis to the state auditor's office for review.

God forbid anybody should have to supply a cost-benefit analysis for ODF...

[N3WBI3]

Welcome back,

Most of us here have said the first duty of the state is to make sure all information is available to the people in a format that no one entity controls. After that its plain old TCO.

The real story here is the number of Liberal democrats opposed to this move which would seem to counter any claims that the entire ODF move is a scheme by leftest democrats in the bay state..

[Bush2000]

Most of us here have said the first duty of the state is to make sure all information is available to the people in a format that no one entity controls.

Fine. MS Office supports PDF. Game over.

After that its plain old TCO.

Let's have a look at the numbers. I'd like to know how much more it's going to cost Massachusetts to scrap MS Office statewide and adopt an alternate format.

The real story here is the number of Liberal democrats opposed to this move which would seem to counter any claims that the entire ODF move is a scheme by leftest democrats in the bay state..

One could also argue that Massachusetts is using this sad saga as a bargaining ploy with M$...

[chilepepper]

to take the bait

...and the cash! (we're talking massachussetts here, home of fat traitorous teddy fercrisakes!)

[ShadowAce]

I'd like to know how much more it's going to cost Massachusetts to scrap MS Office statewide and adopt an alternate format.

Don't forget the price of upgrading Office as a point of comparison. Upgrading MS could mean upgrading hardware as well. Those costs need to be taken in consideration.

One could also argue that Massachusetts is using this sad saga as a bargaining ploy with M$...

Agreed. This very well could be a very elaborate ploy. But considering that MA is on record as saying that if MS supported ODF then they would also be welcome, kinda shoots that down, as implementing ODF in Office would be MUCH cheaper than giving discounts to MA.