Posted on 12/01/2005 2:53:47 AM PST by rdb3
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/29/microsoft_opens_standards_massachusetts/
Massachusetts has reversed its decision to stop government departments using Microsoft file formats.
The state set a deadline of 2007 for all departments to move away from proprietary technology and embrace open formats. But Microsoft's announcement last week that it would submit its file formats to a European standards body has satisfied the state that Microsoft has embraced open standards.
Sun Microsystems was a little more cynical. Sun's vice president of blogs and government affairs Piper Cole noted: "There is a lot to be done between a press release and the realization of a truly open standard, and Office XML is far from being an open standard now."
Sun's head of corporate standards wrote an open letter to Massachusetts Office of Administration urging them not to confuse a promise to apply for open standard status with actual open standard status.
The letter said: "Only after a specification has been approved by a broadly supported standards body – one that demonstrates acceptable levels of openness by being available to all competing products – should the Commonwealth consider including that open standard as one of its own." More details here. (http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/piper/20051128)
In separate news Massachusetts IT director Peter Quinn is under investigation for visting 12 out-of-state conferences in the last year, some of them without proper authorisation. More on Boston.com here. (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/11/26/romney_administration_probes_officials_out_of_state_travel/)®
LOL - basically Sun and others bribed him to cut Microsoft out. Once the investigation started and Microsoft made a small step, he leaped to change things back hoping to quell the heat.
(This is my take on reading between the lines)
While I'm not disputing your theory, it may also be that he heard enough howling from the one in ten state employees that actually have a clue that he backed off, too. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then.
Are you channeling Ballmer this AM?
Microsoft software is carefully designed to lock the user
into proprietary file formats. Its like a roach motel, your data can check in, but it can't check out. This creates a problem if you expect to be able to read archived data. Add to this the M$ practice of breaking compatablity between versions to force the user to upgrade and the problem gets bigger.
Open file formats solve this problem, but are incompatable with M$'s busness model where these forced upgrades provide a continuous flood of cash without the need to actually provide much additional value to the customer.
To bad, Mass requiring open formats would have been the thin edge of a wedge which would make computer users' and especially IT staffs' lives easier.
But M$ has to win this one every time. Open software (and the customer) has to win only once.
Oh, and do you have any evidence of the bribes that Sun paid? Or did you just commit libel?
you stated your case well.
My favorite story of MS incompatability...
There is a school district that uses Apple and
Intel based products ( really, intel +MS).
They have everything from MS95 up to XPpro-and
their word processing is several different versions
of MS- both on apple and their Intel desktops.-
They regularly use Open Office on apple to file convert for
other people who cannot open peoples documents etc.
They still pay MS TENs of Thousands YEARLY for this CRAP!
So why not stick to their original plan and use OS file formats? Nothing you said makes it seem that M$ had to win.
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