Free Republic

Excerpt - Microsoft Corp., bowing to pressure from governments, will offer free software that will let Word, Excel and PowerPoint handle documents in a rival technology format promoted by Sun Microsystems Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and others. The Redmond, Wash., software maker today will post on the Internet software that will let users of Microsoft applications view and create documents in the OpenDocument Format. ~ snip ~

The EU Commission would like to create a digital library. Microsoft has already pitched them on their XML, telling the Commission that they have sent their XML to ECMA with hopes of it becoming an ISO standard someday and they'd like to work with the Commission going forward. I stumbled across the information when I found that the EU Commission has completed an online survey on issues related to its proposed digital library: The European Commissions’ plan to promote digital access to Europe’s heritage is rapidly taking shape. At least six million books, documents and other cultural works will be...

Secretary of State William F. Galvin's office said it is opposed to the Romney administration's plan to store state documents in an ''open" format, a plan that roused the ire of Microsoft Corp., maker of the popular Office suite of word processing, e-mail, presentation, and spreadsheet software. Also, a key member of the state Senate plans to hold hearings to consider whether the software changeover makes sense for Massachusetts.Alan Cote, the state's supervisor of records, said last week that Galvin has discussed the issue with Thomas Trimarco, the state's secretary of administration and finance. Galvin ''has expressed to him our...

Readers of FoxNews.com have blasted a Sept. 30 column criticizing Massachusetts’ decision to support an open document format for its published documents, a move that would limit or even eliminate the use of Microsoft Corp.’s Office software in state government agencies. The column, “Massachusetts Should Close Down OpenDocument,” was written by James Prendergast, executive director of the Americans for Technology Leadership, an organization Microsoft co-founded. Several of the letters, published Wednesday on FoxNews.com, accuse Microsoft of trying to promote its own interests by presenting Prendergast, writing for a Microsoft-linked organization, as an unbiased observer. This practice is known as “astroturfing,”...

James Prendergast's column, Massachusetts Should Close Down OpenDocument, touched a nerve among FOXnews.com's tech savvy readers and ignited a heated response. Below is a sample of some of the mail we received: [snip lengthy list of corrections to the "Massachusetts Should Close Down OpenDocument" astroturf piece.] Editor's Note: The column "Massachusetts Should Close Down OpenDocument" that appeared on FOXnews.com Sept. 28 identified author James Prendergast as executive director of Americans for Technology Leadership, but failed to disclose that Microsoft is a founding member of that organization.