US state's CIO backs Office-to-OpenDocument plug-in

10.05.2006
Massachusetts' top technology official said Tuesday that third-party plug-in software that allows Microsoft Office users to open and save files in the OpenDocument format would meet the state's Jan 1., 2007 mandate for using open and standardized document formats.

That could pave the way for the state of Massachusetts to continue using Microsoft Office. The state announced last year that its workers would start using and saving memos, spreadsheets and presentations in OpenDocument, a move widely viewed as a de facto embrace of alternative office software such as the free OpenOffice.

"We have a large installed base of Office suites, and the availability of a plug-in would meet our policy requirements, and would allow a more seamless transition to an environment that would meet our policy for open and standard document formats," said Massachusetts CIO Louis Gutierrez.

In a public request for information (RFI) dated May 3, the state asked for information on "creating an ODF-translator" that would work with Microsoft Office 2000 and 2003, currently used by state employees, as well as Office 2007, which Microsoft is expected to release by the end of this year. The state's RFI resulted in news of a plug-in being created by a Silicon Valley software developer active in promoting OpenDocument.

Gutierrez, who was appointed in January after the previous CIO, Peter Quinn, resigned, denied any sudden "chill" in the state's attitude towards open-source software or open standards. But he said the state's policy has never explicitly mandated moving off Office, despite Microsoft's refusal to support the OpenDocument standard.

"I believe firmly in the technical reference model created and the IT Division's promotion of it, but my position is that it does not particularly advantage or disadvantage any particular Office suite," he said. That follows comments Gutierrez made to Computerworld in an interview last month in which he said the availability of an OpenDocument file converter for Office would settle "months of question marks over whether Microsoft Office products will ultimately qualify under the policy."