Or The Triumph of Business over IT Zealots
In my post here, I alluded to the fact that the ODF was a cruel joke (to businesses) foisted on us by those companies who couldn’t compete in the marketplace.
The ODF is built on the foundation of StarOffice* and ratified by OASIS, the ODF, for Microsoft haters, seemed like a godsend. And they pushed it as such, the most chatter being by a former IT functionary in the government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who tried to schneider the entire government into passing a law to make ODF the standard.
Never mind that the new ‘standard’ was incompatible with, say, 99.99% of all documents in that government’s inventory.
Yeah, what was he thinking?
Thankfully, adults were about, and shot down the idea.
But not before the mantle was hoisted by other CIOs in government of states who saw the ODF as a way of permanently ensuring their continued employment, said employment being perfect examples of the utmost in attainment of The Peter Principle.
Thankfully, Microsoft and other well-intentioned people, companies, and legislators decided to step in and stop our duly elected leaders from making enormous, financially egregious errors.
Already rejected by four states, the ODF proposal was killed in committee last week in California.
This last beating was a laugher, especially since the sponsor of the bill was the committee chairman!
My exhortation to pushers of ODF: Stop the playa’ hatin’ of Microsoft! Let the enduser benefit from your truly agnostic opinions.
*Borne out of the twisted mind of Scott McNealy when he ran Sun Microsystems – a founding member of the NOISE coalition who ran with their tails a-begging to ill-informed members of the DOJ back in the day – with the purchase of StarDivision. The NOISE: Novell, Oracle, IBM, Sun, Everybody else, with new member, Google.
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