Microsoft Steps Up Its Fight Against Massachusetts' XML PolicyMicrosoft Steps Up Its Fight Against Massachusetts' XML Policy

As Microsoft’s Bill Gates previewed the coming version of its Office programs in Los Angeles, the firm stepped up its opposition to a bid by the Massachusetts state government to require state agencies to use an “OpenDocument Format” for Office and other Microsoft products.

A document complaining about the proposed state policy that has been filed with the state by Microsoft is the latest chapter in a long running struggle between the state and the software colossus that began in 2003 when the state’s Office of Administration and Finance (OAF) issued a memo calling for state agencies to adopt an “Open Standards, Open Source” policy.

The policy has undergone different iterations since then and the OAF’s chief, Secretary Eric Kriss, began calling the “Open Standards” policy an “Open Formats” policy. Microsoft joined an industry group that has been developing the new OpenDocument standard – the proposal that Microsoft is now fighting.

In its 15-page memo complaining of the state’s latest proposal, Microsoft’s general manager Alan Yates said: “Were this proposal to be adopted, the significant costs incurred by the Commonwealth, its citizens and the private sector would be matched only by the levels of confusion and incompatibility that would result from the fact that the OpenDocument format is such a nascent and immature format.”

The state’s effort on the issue has been led by secretary Kriss, a former software entrepreneur and programmer, who has announced he will leave the position soon. The latest Microsoft memo was reported by The Boston Globe.