Massachusetts about-turns on Open XML

New draft proposal adds Office Open XML to the State's supported list of open document formats

The state of Massachusetts has performed an about-turn and added Microsoft's Office Open XML document format to a draft list of open standards it plans to support.

The decision is a boost for the Microsoft document format, which is currently going through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) approval process.

Massachusetts was one of the first states to publicly give its backing to the rival OpenDocument Format (ODF), which has already been ratified as an ISO standard. The state’s previous list of supported “open formats” - the only formats eligible for use across its agencies – did not include Open XML.

A new draft of Massachusetts’ Enterprise Technical Reference Model, posted online by the state's Information Technology Division (ITD) this week, now lists Open XML as an acceptable open format.

Writing on the ConsortiumInfo.org standards blog, Andy Updegrove hinted at mounting pressure on Massachusetts to consider adding the Microsoft version to its list of supported open formats.

“How much pressure has the Massachusetts ITD been under to accept Ecma 376 [Open XML]? I've been told by those in the know that the contacts reached all the way to Deval Patrick, our new governor,” Updegrove wrote. “The point was forcefully and repeatedly made that Microsoft is the kind of company that can provide jobs and other economic support where and as it pleases. And, to be fair, the same points were made in the past by representatives of IBM and Sun when they have spoken out in favor of ODF.”

A comment period on the new draft is now underway, and will run until 20 July.