Massachusetts moots opening door to Microsoft

Massachusetts has proposed changing its standards policy to make room for Microsoft Office document formats.

The proposed changes were included in a draft proposal posted to the state's Information Technology Division website, as part of a periodic revision to its overall technical architecture, and will be under review until 20 July.

If accepted, the policy update would list Office Open XML as acceptable "open formats" for use by executive-branch state agencies. Office Open XML, also referred to as Ecma-376, are the XML-based file formats in Office 2007 that Microsoft standardised at Ecma International late last year.

Another proposed change to the policy would make the most recent version of OpenDocument Format for Office Applications - another standardised document format - acceptable under the state's guidelines.

Massachusetts caused a stir among governments and the technology industry nearly two years ago when it mandated the use of "open formats" in desktop applications.

At that time, only OpenDocument Format, or ODF, met the state IT department's definition of an open standard, which was not supported in Microsoft Office.

Since then, however, Microsoft has submitted its Open XML file formats to Ecma, where they were certified as a standard. The International Organization for Standardization, which holds significant weight with governments around the world, is currently weighing whether to accept Office Open XML as a standard.

According to its latest policy proposal, Massachusetts' state agencies can now use applications that comply with Open XML file formats as well as ODF, PDF and other accepted standards.

The draft policy said: "All agencies are expected to migrate away from proprietary, binary office document formats to open, XML-based office document formats. Microsoft Office 2003, currently deployed in the majority of agencies, will support the Open XML format through the use of the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack."

The choice of document standards by government customers has been marked by intense lobbying from IBM, Microsoft and others because document formats can affect desktop application purchases. Several government customers, particularly in Europe, have added OpenDocument to their list of approved standards or have started migrations to Microsoft Office alternatives that use OpenDocument.

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft said it is pleased with the proposed Massachusetts policy changes.

Tom Robertson, Microsoft's general manager of interoperability and standards, said: "We support the Commonwealth's proposal to add Ecma Office Open XML File Formats to the list of approved standards, as this would give users the ability to choose the open file format standard that best serves their needs."

Martin LaMonica writes for CNET News.com