Open-Source-achusetts

Mitt Romney may have hid under his desk when his aides reported to him that the state had been slashdotted yesterday. The post on SlashDot filed a report on the Commonwealth government's possible future dumping of Microsoft Office in favor of software that would support an open document format compliant with OASIS. Bostonist has been using OpenOffice for a while now, and since our last computer didn’t come with office and dropping two bills on a CD seems a little insane, we don't blame the state for taking this route. Sure it's not the same as Microsoft, with which we've become very familliar, but it does the trick. Perhaps it'll end up keeping the state out of trouble too. The Financial Times, Forbes and the Inquirer had stories backing up the post, pointing to the Mass.gov website where documents are linked for public review of the proposal. (More in today’s Boston Globe.)

Massachusetts may be the first state government to move away from Microsoft Office and other proprietary office software productivity packages. The argument for the proposal is more than “Microsoft is bad;” supporters hope to create documents that will be more accessible today and for perpetuity. The relative portability of documents and presentations in the current technological climate creates a need for documents to flow freely from computer to computer. Adobe’s PDF does adhere to the proposed definition of an acceptable Open Document, for example. But a “modern day tea party” that was a bit of a stretch. Bostonist would like to see Mr. Lydon pick up a discussion on this topic. He's Here, He's Open Source, Get Used to It.