The ITD had originally planned to adopt ODF for all state office documents by January 2007. That date will now be the start of the ODF implementation, which will initially be enabled via Microsoft Office plug-ins, according to a letter from ITD chief information officer, Louis Gutierrez.
The delay has been caused by concerns that applications that currently support the ODF standard do not support accessibility requirements for the visually impaired, for example. While work is ongoing to improve the accessibility features of ODF applications, the improvements are unlikely to be completed by the January 2007 deadline.
It is our judgment that they are unlikely to be fully supported by assistive technology vendors, or to include fully functional adaptations in the packaged product, by January 1, 2007, wrote Gutierrez, who was appointed CIO in February after former CIO Peter Quinn resigned following controversy about the ODF decision.
While accessibility was one of the issues that led to a state Senate Committee hearing and investigation into Quinn’s travel expenses, the fact that Microsoft had decided not support the ISO-approved ODF standard and therefore would be frozen out of state desktops, was also a key factor.
In July Microsoft announced that it is sponsoring a new open source project that will develop a translator enabling Office to support ODF, and either that or other ongoing translator projects will mean that Microsoft will retain its place on Massachusetts’ desktop, according to Gutierrez.
These tools will enable executive department agencies to begin implementing ODF while leveraging the installed base of Microsoft Office and available assistive technologies, Gutierrez wrote.
Specifically, we plan to implement ODF, using translator technology plugged in to Microsoft Office, in a group of early adopter agencies, including the Massachusetts Office on Disability, by January 1, 2007, he wrote. Thereafter, we plan to migrate all executive department agencies to compliance with the standard, in phases, by June of 2007.
Gutierrez noted however, that the deadlines are not set in stone as they rely on accessibility improvements in ODF 1.1 and the availability of a suitable translator by November this year.
The adoption of ODF had been considered by some to be a success for open source given that ODF originated from the OpenOffice.org productivity suite, but in reality it was a standards decision and no decision had been taken on a preferred ODF-compliance productivity suite supplier.
Gutierrez left the door open to Office alternatives, however. When the alternative, ODF-supporting Office suites become more accessible in the future, they too will provide a means by which the executive department can meet its long-term goal of implementing open document standards, he wrote.
The ODF Alliance, a 300-member group focused on promoting ODF, welcomed the letter, saying that it showed Massachusetts’ continued commitment to the format.
Marino Marcich, managing director of the ODF Alliance, said in a statement: This decision signals the confidence of the Massachusetts ITD to utilize plug-in or converter technology so that all users can retain their existing accessibility tools, while still moving to ODF. This will inevitably lead to more accessibility choices.
The Gutierrez letter added that ITD plans to review its Enterprise Technical Reference Model in the light of the change, and from now on review ETRE every six months to take technology and standard developments into account.
The ITD has also entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Massachusetts Office of Disability and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services to confirm that its priority will be accessibility and usability, and has created a new accessibility group within ITD headed by manager of assistive technology, Joe Lazzaro.
