\jeff{krimmel}

Microsoft Pleads With Massachusetts

A couple of weeks ago, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts unveiled a plan that would require all government entities to use an open format for all documents, as opposed to Microsoft’s and others’ proprietary formats. For example, government agencies would have to use the OpenDocument format for all office documents, which Microsoft’s Office does not support. The plan was motivated by the desire to have as much government information available to the public for as long a time frame as possible. The risk with proprietary formats (e.g. Microsoft’s) is that the company who owns that format may one day close shop, stop development, or bury the format, and the public at large would be left in the lurch.

Microsoft is understandably upset about the move and has sent the Massachusetts Information Technology Division a fifteen page comment on the matter. Microsoft has implored the commonwealth to reconsider its move, as it may turn out to be both costly and confusing to government employees. One reason the move would be costly? The government has licenses for Microsoft Office through at least 2007. Microsoft’s alternative? A new proprietary format they believe will meet the commonwealth’s needs even better than the open alternatives.

I certainly cannot blame Microsoft for protecting its business interests. The company potentially has a lot at stake here. If Massachusetts makes the transition and people find out open source software is just as, if not more, efficient and easy to use as Microsoft software, the Redmond-based software giant may be in a world of hurt.

One paragraph from the article sums up the disagreement particularly well, in my opinion.

”It’s an important issue,” [the Massachusetts secretary of administration and finance] said. ”Open formats are at the very heart of our democratic process. The question is whether a sovereign state has the obligation to ensure that its public documents remain forever free and unencumbered by patent, license, or other technical impediments. We say, yes, this is an imperative. Microsoft says they disagree and want the world to use their proprietary formats.”