Open formats make history - and maintain it (Times) [LWN.net]

The Times is running a column by Gervase Markham on the importance of open formats. "Paradigm shifts are often preceded by tiny, almost unnoticeable shivers. So you could be forgiven for missing the news that late last month, the government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (for historical reasons it does not call itself a state) decided that all the documents its employees create have to be in a data format called OpenDocument. What makes this more than an obscure bit of United States government administrivia? Well, it could be the trigger for a revolution that will increase consumer choice and ensure the survival of documents that could be of historical importance in the future."

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Open formats make history - and maintain it (Times)

Posted Oct 21, 2005 0:15 UTC (Fri) by stock (subscriber, #5849) [Link]

Allthough it takes almost 90 minutes to listen, its well worth the effort
to sit through this audio report from the Massechusets hearing on Open
Document Formats :

Listen to the audio of this ODF hearing :
http://www.peapodcast.com/msc-oss-sig/MTLC-MAOpenFormats-...

"Did Microsoft send the wrong guy to Massachusetts' ODF hearing?"
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=1913

"Either Microsoft thought the state was bluffing, or it gravely
miscalculated when it didn't send one of its top executives - either
Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates (someone who could make a decision on the
spot) - to that last hearing on Sept. 16, 2005. The reason I say
"gravely" is that there is much more at stake for Microsoft than it may
realize. Not only does the ODF decision extend to any of the state's
80,000 employees who may need access to an Office-like productivity
solution, but also to nearly everyone whose business with the state may
involve the exchange of electronic documents."

This Burocrat of Massachussets starts talking, mentions some browser
blues with the FEMA websites during Hurricane Katrina, which only seem to
work with MS IE, and finally sweeps the floor with the strategy of
Microsoft on document format policy. This was not just an ordinary
hearing.