New York takes a gander at open document formats

New York has become the latest state government to introduce legislation concerning open document formats even as bills in other states are being voted down.

State Assemblywoman RoAnn M. Destito, the chair of the Governmental Operations Committee, introduced a bill June 6 that would have the state technology director study electronic documents and how they may benefit government operations.

The bill says the study should examine “the policies of other states and nations, management guidelines for state archives as they pertain to electronic documents, public access, expected storage life of electronic documents, costs of implementation, and savings.”

Experts say Destito’s proposal differs from other dead or dying legislation introduced in California, Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota, Oregon and Texas in that it does not seek a mandate on open document formats but instead seeks to study the implications of considering the adoption of open formats.

“New York is taking a more measured approach than the others states,” says Sam Hiser vice president and director of business affairs at the OpenDocument Foundation. “It is sort of ‘what are we talking about here? What is this open document?’ ”

Destito was unavailable for comment before this story was published.

Over the past month, bills in Connecticut, Florida, Oregon and Texas were killed; a bill in California is stalled in committee; and a Minnesota proposal has been watered down to requiring the state’s IT department to study the issue.

Massachusetts, which passed its measure by executive policy decision in 2005 and not via the government’s legislative branch, is the only state to have adopted an open document policy. The state, however, is currently using plug-in technology to support the OpenDocument Format while it considers way to serve people with disabilities that need magnifiers not supported by open office applications that use ODF.

ODF is at the heart of a groundswell of foreign and state governments seeking alternatives to Microsoft’s proprietary Office file formats.

Microsoft has introduced its own “open” format called OpenXML, which is the default format in Office 2007. In December, OpenXML was approved as a standard by Ecma International, a membership-based standards organization for information and communication systems. Microsoft is now seeking further standardization of OpenXML through the International Organization for Standardization, an effort that is being met with resistance from IBM and others.

Ironically, while Microsoft develops open formats it is lobbying hard to close down state legislation that would mandate their use.

In Connecticut, Florida, Oregon and Texas, Microsoft lobbyists and allies mounted fierce opposition to open document format legislation.

Despite the setbacks, open document observers and proponents don’t see the defeats as set backs.

Illuminata analyst Jonathan Eunice, wrote in his blog June 4 that the fact “establishing preferences for open formats is even on the agenda, and that Microsoft has responded with its own take on open formats — these show that openness is winning the war. The march of openness and open standards is progressing rapidly. This is causing Microsoft, the undisputed leader of the forgoing proprietary age and approach, …..to fight innumerable small fires as they spring up at various levels of government and industry.”