Massachusetts and OpenDocument

So in case you haven't read the latest on this on-going battle between our friends in the Commonwealth and our not-so-good friends in the Microsoft Office division:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2057

First off, though some of these ZDnet stories are more sensationalism than journalism, I do applaud them for keeping up with this ongoing story...none of the other sites (tech news or normal newsites) have picked up much on this since the opening of the story.

Let me say that I do not believe this process is 'on the rocks', but rather that you need to realize that this, being the state, is going to be a very long and slow process to go through all the necessary meetings and approvals. You know how slow large companies are to get any policy changes approved? Multiply that by 1000 and thats how things work in state government :-)

I do find cause for concern with Galvin's quote:

"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.

One might start to wonder if the Microsoft FUD engine has snared it's first victim...