Mass Ousting of Microsoft

Holy file format Batman, the State of Massachusetts has mandated that by Jan 1, 2007 all personnel will be required to use office software (word processors, spreadsheets and presentations) that by default saves to an open file format standard. Namely the Open Document format for Office Applications, also called OASIS. There is a small mention of an XML based PDF format. Looks like the work of the Riddler, Boy Wonder. Which Riddler? The State of Massachusetts or some software company?

What the great State of Massachusetts is saying that they would like to standardize on an open file format and not be tied to a proprietary file format.  What is open?

Specifications publicly available.
No legal encumbrance.
Maintained by a committee.
(** As defined by the State of Massachusetts)

Sounds like a good idea but they are essentially throwing out Microsoft for the short term. Unless Microsoft starts saving to this new format which, I doubt they would do. But do you now need to convert Word and Excel and PDF to the OASIS format?  Is this a really bad and costly move? The State argues that since they are presently running Windows 2000 (which the newer versions of Microsoft Office will not run on). They would have to install new operating systems and train employees anyway.

Microsoft, as part of the upcoming Longhorn (Now called Vista) and new office suite has created a new file format for office applications called Metro. I would assume this will be the default if not the only format for saving. When this happens, the State of Massachusetts will be required to upgrade all Microsoft Office applications anyway. Since old versions would not read in this new format.

So are they really this smart to see what’s coming or just trying to stick it to Microsoft?

The argument, which I like, is that in the future, even if there were no software available which supported the State's new adopted file format, a specification would still be in the public domain to document the file format, thus allowing conversion. By using a proprietary format all states documents might no longer be readable or even convertible.

*** Is this really significant??!!! One state (by far not the largest) standardizing on a Non-Microsoft format and non-Microsoft software? Well at a recent meeting of the Mass Software council, an open forum was held to discuss the latest Mandate by the State.  On hand were Secretary of Administration and Finance Eric Kriss, Dan Bricklin, Jim Palo (File format expert), and some others from obscure no name companies like:

Adobe
Microsoft
Sun
IBM
more.....

If you ever watch King of the Cage then you would have loved the fight for the microphone between Microsoft and IBM. The major issue is if other states, other countries and or the Federal Government will follow suit. An IBM representative (who had a well thought out agenda in front of him) stated he had discussed the issue of open file formats and only software that supported them with 24 different countries. Well, caped wonder, we will have to see how this one plays out.

Stay tuned next week.
Same Bat time.
Same Bat channel.

-Jim

Comments

[Stan Smythe]

So what do you think is the real issue here? Is this a battle between the giants - Microsoft versus IBM and Sun and Massachusetts is just looking for free software?

Or is there some validity to this pursuit? Can Massachusetts get the same functionality as Word with Oasis and pay less? Is it all about money?

Has Massachusetts thought it through? Will they miss out on new developments that only market leaders like Microsoft can provide?

Is XML a real solution?

Stan

[Jim Palo]

All great questions, I don't have the answers.
In most large organizations the real cost for software is the installation, training, maintenance and support.

So I doubt the State of Mass will really save a lot of money since all employees will have to be trained on new software.

It is clearly a battle of the giants between IBM, Sun and Microsoft also Adobe. They were all present and well prepared for the meeting.

There was more than one civilian attendee that blasted the State of Mass on the plan to switch to Open Office. This software is still in Beta, I believe.

I am not a large fan of Microsoft Office but would find it hard to conduct business without it. It is the standard. When we post a Job here at Snowbound Software 99% of the resumes are in Word format. Also all of the contracts for software sales are in Word format.