Alan Yates Types Quotations

The proposed policy is inconsistent with ongoing dialogues Microsoft is having with other Massachusetts state agencies about how Microsoft products can best meet their data and records requirements for a variety of data types - ranging from traditional documents to pictures, audio, video, voice, voice-over-IP, data, database schema, web pages, and XML information. As we look to the future, and all of these data types become increasingly intertwined, locked-in formats like OpenDocument are not well suited to address these varying data types - as the proposed policy itself acknowledges. It's this need for choice and flexibility that led Microsoft to design Office in a way that supports any XML schemas that a customer chooses, a capability lacking in less functional formats.

As we look to the future, and all of these data types become increasingly intertwined, locked-in formats like OpenDocument are not well suited to address these varying data types -- as the proposed policy itself acknowledges. ... We would advise the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to do a thorough evaluation of the costs and benefits before making such a major shift.