Here's one to make your blood boil

[Bruce Marshall]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,170724,00.html



Massachusetts Should Close Down OpenDocument
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
By James Prendergast


The broader media usually take little interest in public policy debates about 
technology, but they?re missing a big story in Massachusetts.

The technology trades, blogs and industry are buzzing about a monumental 
policy shift in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Officials in the state 
have proposed a new policy that mandates that every state technology system 
use only applications designed around OpenDocument file formats (search).

Such a policy might seem like something that should concern only a small group 
of technology professionals, but in fact the implications are staggering and 
far-reaching. The policy promises to burden taxpayers with new costs and to 
disrupt how state agencies interact with citizens, businesses and 
organizations.

Worse, the policy represents an attack on market-based competition, which in 
turn will hurt innovation. The state has a disaster in the making.


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