the fix is in....

[jkinz at kinz.org (Jeff Kinz)]

On Wed, Oct 26, 2005 at 08:12:22AM -0400, Bill Bogstad wrote:
> A Boston Globe article
> 
> http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/10/25/galvin_attacks_software_proposal/
> 
> says that the Massachussetts Secretary of State William Galvin and a number
> of state senators are opposed to the idea of going to OpenDocument formats.

Didn't say a number of senators,  But that doesn't mean its not true..

(Double negative? Is this ForTran? :) )


> You can contact Secreatary Galvin's office at cis at sec.state.ma.us if
> you have any thoughts on this matter.  Check the article for other
> politicians you might want to contact as well.

Article:
################################################################
Galvin attacks software proposal, He says he'll forgo data-storage shift

By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff  |  October 25, 2005

Secretary of State William F. Galvin's office said it is opposed to the
Romney administration's plan to store state documents in an ''open"
format, a plan that roused the ire of Microsoft Corp., maker of the
popular Office suite of word processing, e-mail, presentation, and
spreadsheet software.

Also, a key member of the state Senate plans to hold hearings to
consider whether the software changeover makes sense for Massachusetts.

Alan Cote, the state's supervisor of records, said last week that Galvin
has discussed the issue with Thomas Trimarco, the state's secretary of
administration and finance. Galvin ''has expressed to him our grave
concerns about this, and that we will not be participating in that,"
Cote said by e-mail. ''We will be counseling all our agencies, as well
as the executive branch agencies, that that is not the policy of the
Commonwealth."

Galvin's office did not provide any further explanation about the
reasons for their objections.

The state records office is run by Galvin.

Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for Governor Mitt Romney, said Trimarco is
working on a plan to implement the new data-storage policy. ''We are
collecting feedback from affected agencies and from constitutional
officeholders like Secretary Galvin," Fehrnstrom said. ''We take
Secretary Galvin's concerns seriously, and they will obviously be given
consideration."

The administration's plan is designed to store state records in an
''open" format that will work with many brands of software, and is less
likely to become obsolete. Most state government offices use Microsoft
Office to generate documents. Microsoft Office stores files in a unique
format invented by Microsoft. Some features of the Microsoft file format
are incompatible with office software made by rival firms, making it
difficult and expensive for a company to switch from Microsoft to some
other brand of software. It also means that people using other programs
may not be able to read public documents generated by state agencies.

Last month, the state's chief information officer, Peter Quinn, said the
executive branch would adopt a new file format called OpenDocument,
created by a consortium of computer hardware and software companies. Any
software company can make its products compatible with OpenDocument, and
a popular free program called OpenOffice can read the documents.

Quinn said state offices could continue to use Microsoft Office by
adding additional software that would save data in the OpenDocument
format instead of in Microsoft's format. He also said embracing the
OpenDocument standard would make state documents more accessible to the
public.

Microsoft so far has refused to make its Office software compatible with
OpenDocument. The company has attacked Quinn's plan, saying it will
impose unnecessary costs on state government.

State Senator Marc R. Pacheco, Democrat of Taunton, chairman of the
Senate's Committee on Post Audit and Oversight, said he asked Quinn
months ago for a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the software
changeover. ''We never received it until just recently, after a second
request," Pacheco said. He has forwarded the analysis to the state
auditor's office for review.

Pacheco also said the Legislature should have a say in the data format
decision. His committee will hold a hearing Monday at the State House.
Along with cost concerns, the hearing will address worries that
OpenDocument may not be easily usable by people with physical
disabilities. Microsoft Office has features to help users with limited
eyesight. Pacheco said he has received questions from state employees
worried they might not be able to use the new file format.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray at globe.com. 


> 
> Bill Bogstad
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-- 
speech recognition software was used in the composition of this e-mail
Jeff Kinz, Emergent Research, Hudson, MA.
??Ya no mas!