The publication of version 4.0 of Massachusetts’ Enterprise Technical Reference Model this week saw the addition of Ecma 376, the Ecma standard based on Microsoft’s Office Open XML Formats.
The move was welcomed by Microsoft’s director of corporate standards, Jason Matusow, who claimed it as a vote for choice. The choices available to any organization around doc formats are more interesting today due to the push for openness that began many years ago. I think this is a really positive development, he wrote on his corporate blog.
The inclusion of Open XML effectively brings to a close almost two years of lobbying to persuade the state’s Information Technology Department to reverse a decision that would have seen Microsoft Office software frozen out of state administrative desktops. In that time the ITD has been through no fewer than three chief information officers as the role and state funding came under intense scrutiny alongside complaints related to accessibility concerns for visually impaired users.
The State of Massachusetts originally announced its intention to move to OpenDocument Format as the standard for all office documents in September 2005, kick-starting the adoption of the ISO-approved standard worldwide, as well as no end of controversy.
The decision, as it stood, would have seen Microsoft’s Office software effectively barred from use on the desktops of Massachusetts state employees from the beginning of 2007 as a result of Microsoft’s decision not to support ODF and not to submit its own Open XML formats to a standards body.
While Microsoft lobbied for a change of mind, the company also changed its position, first by submitting Open XML to the Ecma standards body in November 2005, and then by initiating the Open XML Translator project in July 2006 to provide a translator that would enable Office to open ODF documents.
Those two concessions appear to have been enough for Massachusetts to change its position. First, the ITD announced in August 2006 that it was delaying the adoption of ODF until June 2007 and that it would make the move by utilizing the translator plug-ins for Office.
While ODF remains on the ETRM, draft 4.0 effectively means that it is back to business as usual as far as office documents are concerned. Not only can state administrators continue to use Microsoft Office, the can also continue to use Office 2007’s default formats.
ETDM v4 is available for review and comment until July 20 and was revealed by acting CIO, Bethann Pepoli, who took over from Louis Gutierrez, who tendered his resignation in October 2006 in protest over lack of funding. Gutierrez became CIO in February 2006, replacing Peter Quinn, who was the driving force behind the move to ODF but resigned between Christmas and new year the previous year in response to the high level of controversy surrounding the move.
The decision to adopt ODF prompted a Massachusetts Senate Committee hearing, proposed changes to the ITD’s decision making powers, and an investigation into Quinn’s travel expenses and conference visits.
While the former CIO was quickly cleared of any wrongdoing or potential conflict of interest following the investigation, the level of attention was too much. It is…readily apparent that I have become a lightning rod with regard to any IT initiative. Even the smallest initiatives are being mitigated or stopped by some of the most unlikely and often uninformed parties, he reportedly wrote in his resignation letter.
The approval of Office Open XML by Massachusetts follows the approval of both ODF and OOXML by the Danish national government late last month.
In June 2006 the Danish parliament, Folketinget, decided that by January 2008 all digital information exchanged between government agencies and its citizens should be based on open standards.
While that appeared to indicate a move to adopt ODF at the time, last month it was the Danish Minister of Science, Helge Sande, announced that it meant both ODF and OOXML.
