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Linux Pipeline Newsletter www.LinuxPipeline.com Wednesday, May 10, 2006 In This Issue: - IT Group Accuses Massachusetts Of Pro-Open Source Bias - OpenDocument Plug-In Ready For Microsoft Office - Firefox Updated With Critical Security Fix - More News... - ISO Approves Open-Source Document Standard - A Linux Alternative To Windows Media Center PCs - Ballmer: "Big, Bold Bet" Needed To Beat Google - More Picks... Rackspace: Managed Hosting Solutions backed by Fanatical Support? Sign a 18-month contract by May 15, 2006 and get your first 45 days FREE! Rackspace is different from other hosting providers. We are a service company that supports you and your people, not just the technology we provide-your servers, operating systems, data centers and network. It's a distinction that we call Fanatical Support--that will change the way you do business every day. And it's why our customers trust us to manage more than 20,000 servers. Click here to get your first 45 days free! http://www.rackspace.com/promo/may18month45day.php?CMP=May_LinuxPipeline_Nwsltr ----------------------------------------- Editor's Note: So What? Is the state of Massachusetts biased against proprietary software makers? I don't know -- although under the circumstances, it sounds like a good idea to me. To understand why, you'll first have to parse this bit of sophistry, which comes courtesy of Melanie Wyne, the executive director of the Institute for Software Choice: "The RFP reveals that the choice presented by the previous ITD [Massachusetts Division of Technology] bureaucrats -- i.e., ODF-compliant desktops for state agencies are the only viable options for citizens to have access to their data in the future -- was purposely exclusionary, being primarily designed to distort the competitive landscape.Wyne clearly (or, perhaps, not so clearly -- that first sentence is a doozie) does not like the fact that Massachusetts went shopping for a plug-in capable of converting Office documents to the open-source ODF format. Nor is she pleased that the state issued its RFP for such a plugin just two days after ISO approved ODF as a bona fide open standard. In other words, Wyne added two plus two and got...four. Unfortunately, she decided this was an essay question. The results are downright ugly: Consider, for example, Wyne's assumption that moving public records out of a proprietary format whose fate hangs entirely upon the whims of a single company, and into a completely open, vendor-neutral format, ranks somewhere between drop-kicking puppies and giving away cigarettes to first-graders on the Big List of Bad Things. There's no way to tell whether Wyne takes herself seriously. The organization she heads is a unit of CompTIA -- an organization known for its IT certification programs and its dog-like devotion to Microsoft's political agenda. But she will, no doubt, achieve her objective: To leave a bunch of Massachusetts bureaucrats flummoxed, as they recall what happened to the state's last IT chief, Peter Quinn, and instinctively crawl under their desks. If anyone in a position to respond to Wyne's carefully-staged freakout grows a backbone, they can keep their response to her charges of anti-proprietary software bias short and sweet: So what? Government bodies, citizens groups, and even business leaders -- including those Commie vipers lurking in the Minnesota prairie grass -- have already concluded that proprietary technology is a really bad idea in certain situations. And there's no better example than the formats in which we store public documents, in some cases for years or even decades to come. Proprietary software is a business model -- not the Eleventh Commandment. What Melanie Wyne denounces as a conspiracy to "distort the competitive landscape" is simply a decision that another business model -- the open-source model -- is more appropriate here. The fact that Wyne sees this as unusual, much less as evidence that there are evil-doers afoot, may be the most surprising aspect of her outburst. Enjoy the rest of your week, and stay in touch.
Matt McKenzie
Don't let future editions of Linux Pipeline Newsletter go missing. Take a moment to add the newsletter's address to your anti-spam whitelist: linuxed@techwire.com If you're not sure how to do that, ask your administrator or ISP. Or check your anti-spam utility's documentation. Thanks. Top Linux News IT Group Accuses Massachusetts Of Pro-Open Source Bias A trade association is blasting the Massachusetts Information and Technology Division (IDT) over its search for an OpenDocument plugin for Microsoft Office, alleging that the request proves that the state is biased against Microsoft and other proprietary software makers.
OpenDocument Plug-In Ready For Microsoft Office
Firefox Updated With Critical Security Fix
U.S. Financial Firms Throw Muscle Behind Net Neutrality
Verizon Lobbies To Soften Net Neutrality Bill
JBoss Fills Software-Testing Gap With New Tools, Standards
Sun Readies Java EE 5 For Launch
AT&T Seeks Delay In NSA Spy-Case Questioning
Massive DoS Attack Knocks TypePad, LiveJournal Blogs Offline
P2P BearShare Pays $30 Million To RIAA, Shuts Down Editor's Picks ISO Approves Open-Source Document Standard Approval of the open-source Open Document Format (ODF) by the International Standards Organization provides a major boost for organizations promoting alternatives to Microsoft's proprietary Office XML format.
A Linux Alternative To Windows Media Center PCs
Ballmer: "Big, Bold Bet" Needed To Beat Google
Five Technologies You Need To Know About
Google, Juniper Execs: New Technology Must Be Simple, Open Cast Your Vote Now! Red Hat and Novell aren't the only two enterprise Linux vendors -- but they are the only two that most people can name. That market dominance, however, may not be enough to allow either company to survive on its own. Can Novell and Red Hat survive the enterprise software jungle? Will Oracle turn either of them --or both of them -- into open-source roadkill? Let us know, cast your vote! Get More Out Of Linux Pipeline Try Linux Pipeline's RSS Feed Linux Pipeline's content is available via RSS feed: Get RSS link. The feed is also auto-discoverable to many RSS readers from the Linux Pipeline home page. Note: RSS feeds are not viewable in most Web browsers. You need an RSS reader, Web-based service, or plug-in to view RSS. Find out which RSS readers the Pipeline editors recommend.
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