Open Source Software: Massachusetts leads the way – and falls flat on its face
Posted by Nicholas Gruen on Friday, January 13, 2006
I reported the triumph of Massachusetts mandating open standards for the computer files its government would generate here. Well, for the unititiated, along with various other setbacks for open source software, things seem to be unravelling with various resignations. Microsoft’s proposed standard appears to be winning the day.
Still the battle between open and closed source software continues to rage as it will for the forseeable future. Still I can’t believe that somehow standard applications won’t either end up open source or free – like the closed source Microsoft Internet Explorer.
This entry was posted on Friday, January 13th, 2006 at 10:17 PM and filed under IT and Internet.
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I think the open source community may have to be pragmatic on this one. As much as we may not like it, if the MS standard is fully disclosed, open to everyone to use including those using open source programs, and certified by a reputable body, then the effect is same as if it were the OASIS standard.
The devil’s in the detail, of course. Will it be completely open? It would be very unlike MS to completely give away a large chunk of their monopoly.
Posted on 14-Jan-06 at 3:41 pm | PermalinkAccording to this article on Groklaw, the Governor’s spokesbeing, Eric Fehnstrom, said:
Posted on 14-Jan-06 at 8:27 pm | Permalink“There have been no changes in the commonwealth’s published OpenDocument rules, and we are still on track for a January 2007 implementation”
“falls flat on it’s face”
should be
“falls flat on its face”
:-)
Posted on 15-Jan-06 at 2:21 pm | PermalinkYep, I find myself offering gratuitous additional apostrophe’s from time to time. Sorry “apostrophes”.
Fixed now.
Posted on 15-Jan-06 at 2:40 pm | Permalink[...] Well, Massachusetts seems to be still going for mandated open standards despite the hicough of a month or so ago. Courtesy of Slashdot, this source reports that the CIO for Massachusetts who left or was sacked in the aftermath of the announcement of the policy is being replaced by someone who is eminently qualified to carry on. The date for transitioning to open standards has not been put back. [...]
Posted on 01-Feb-06 at 9:25 pm | Permalink