In a long - have a bun in the oven move , the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on Wednesday formally support that it will for now stay to use Microsoft Office but employ outside software system plug - Hoosier State allowing government workers to open and carry through files in the OpenDocument Format ( ODF ) by next year .
The annunciation is a victory for local proponent of people with disabilities , who had fought against the State Department move to alternative to Microsoft Office , which they said were less compatible with accessibility tools used by blind , indifferent or mobility - deflower computer users in colligation with Office . It is also a victory for Microsoft , which view Massachusetts as a key field as it tries to maintain Office ’s dominance .
ODF is a free XML data file format used by the gratuitous OpenOffice and Sun Microsystems Inc. ’s StarOffice , among other suite . It competes with Open XML , the aboriginal data file format break by Microsoft for its approaching Office 2007 rooms .
In his official mid - class letter to Governor Mitt Romney , state CIO Louis Gutierrez write that other - adopter agencies , including the Massachusetts Office on Disability , will begin using the ODF plug - Indiana by Jan. 1 , 2007 . The plug - ins allow Office users to register , create and save files in the aforesaid liberal XML file cabinet data formatting .
“ Thereafter , we plan to transmigrate all Executive Department representation to compliance with the criterion , in phases , by June of 2007 , ” Gutierrez wrote . “ for converge our execution timetable , the Commonwealth necessitate saving of a transcriber desirable for use by early adoptive parent by November of this year . ”
Encouraging the use of non - Microsoft backed file cabinet formats could bump off one of the superlative incentives for using Office , and loosen the software system ’s hold on more than 400 million users worldwide . A number of European governments , include Belgium and Denmark , have also moved to adopt ODF for official business .
The IT Division did not say it is adding heart-to-heart XML to its inclination of O.K. heart-to-heart data formatting , of which ODF is one . Microsoft is submitting Open XML to the European Computer Manufacturers Association ( Ecma ) for acceptance as an internationally - recognized open banner , a status ODF already pull together from the International Organization for Standardization ( ISO ) in May . Moreover , the newly - announced November deadline could prove too nasty for Microsoft - backed third - party plug - ins that provide Office - to - ODF compatibility to be used by the United States Department of State .
Microsoft said last calendar month that it have a bun in the oven a Word hack - in to be ready by December , with Excel and PowerPoint plug - Immigration and Naturalization Service to travel along in 2007 .
However , in a Wednesday web log posting , Brian Jones , a Microsoft developer turn on Office file formats , wrote that the 2nd beta release for the Word spark plug - in was made usable on Aug. 18 , and indicated the hoopla - in has pull together 25,000 downloads since its initial beta release in July .
Jones ’ blog does not say whether the Microsoft - support cud - in is now being tested by the Massachusetts IT Division . Microsoft was not immediately available for remark . Gutierrez did not return a request for commentary , and a spokesman for the Governor ’s office refuse to annotate .
But several plug - in developer confirm that the IT Division is actively putting the engineering through its paces . “ Accessibility is right-hand at the top of the state ’s listing , along with high document fidelity , ” said Gary Edwards , whose OpenDocument Foundation Inc. is one of the developers . “ We do cerebrate we can cover everything that they ’re contrive at us . ”
Sun ’s plug - In are also now being tested by the state , harmonize to Douglas Johnson , corporate standards program manager at Sun . They have been praised before by accessibility advocates in Massachusetts .
In his letter , Gutierrez conceded that alternatives to Microsoft Office today “ are unlikely to be fully support by assistive technology vender , or alternatively to include full functional adaptation in the box Cartesian product , by January 1 , 2007 , the original target appointment for ODF implementation . ”
However , he said ODF - based suites such as StarOffice or OpenOffice remain a theory in the time to come .
“ When the alternative , ODF - supporting office suites become more accessible in the hereafter , they too will leave a means by which the Executive Department can meet its long - term destination of follow out open document standards , ” he compose .
Johnson , however , maintains that open - root tools for people with disabilities such as Orca , a sieve lecturer that speaks textbook for the unsighted , and Dasher , a textbook - input shaft useful for those with impair coordination such as from cerebral palsy , can already work well with OpenOffice and StarOffice .
“ I call up that free , open - source approachability engineering that go with a free OpenOffice is a better tale [ than Microsoft Office ] , ” he say .
