The Cradle of Independence Rolls Over for Microsoft

by Michael J. Jordan, Managing Editor

August 3, 2007

In the fall of 2005, in my home state of Massachusetts, Peter Quinn, the CIO of the Commonwealth, endorsed a plan to require the state government to use the Open Document Format for storing government records. The big loser, of course, would be Microsoft and its monopoly. The behemoth from Redmond Washington didn't waste time reacting. Shortly thereafter, the Boston Globe ran a story that Quinn had improperly used public funds to attend conferences. The story ended up being false. Quinn was cleared of any wrongdoing. Nevertheless, he resigned in January 2006, already tired of the fight. Others soldiered on, with the backing of then governor Mitt Romney. They were met by opposition from the Secretary of State William Galvin and state senator Marc Pacheco. Both of these men have received support from Microsoft lobbyists.

But the fight ended on August 2. Microsoft's Office Open XML, a closed and according to many experts, flawed format will be adopted. So there it is. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the cradle of US independence, surrendered to the Microsoft Corporation. What would John Adams, Sam Adams and Paul Revere think? The Adamses weren't so keen on handing over control of Massachusetts to the British, but the present Patrick administration doesn't see a problem handing control of all its paperwork to Microsoft.

Office Open XML, a term which would qualify as an example of 'newspeak' out of Orwell's 1984, has not impressed many experts. Like all Microsoft creations, and despite its name, OOXML is a closed, proprietary format. But even if you aren't worried about open standards, it should be noted that experts have called OOXML "dangerously flawed". So flawed, in fact, that these same experts have warned that documents created in OOXML may not be able to be maintained over time. Residents of the Commonwealth can go and read the Mayflower Compact any time they want, but ironically, we now may not be able to read the minutes of a meeting from the beginning of the 21st century. Microsoft has created, in effect, a kind of reverse Rosetta Stone. No doubt they are proud of their technical achievement. Present Massachusetts leaders must be equally proud for adopting it.

My fellow Bay Staters in government would be well-advised to demonstrate a little more backbone. Journalist Edward R. Murrow, when he took on Senator Joseph McCarthy, once famously said that we are "not descended from fearful men". Call it a bit of preference for my birthplace, but I always thought that applied to Massachusetts more than any other place. In the same broadcast where he said those words, he also said: "We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. And that's what the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has done - denied our heritage and history. Whether they escape responsibility is up to us.

The alarming thing is that Massachusetts is just one of several states that are in the same boat. Bill Gates and Company get wind that a state is thinking about adopting an open format and they send in the lobbyists. Florida legislators have even described meetings with Microsoft representatives resembling scenes from the film Men in Black. Recent patent deals between Microsoft and Novell, Linspire and Xandros only reinforce the belief that they are unbeatable and that we need to live in a kind of permanent state of détente or be obliterated. We may be selling ourselves short - but let's not sell ourselves out.

Since we're on the subject of Massachusetts and its past patriot heritage, I will always remember a bit from a letter that historian David McCullough discussed in his excellent book on John Adams. Adams wrote to his fellow founding father Thomas Jefferson in 1816: "Britain will never be our Friend, till We are her Master". The same goes for us in our dealings with Microsoft. That's why I am of the opinion that all of this caving in to Microsoft will get us nowhere. We need to stand tough against them, like our ancestors did against the British. Adams advice to Jefferson is still good today. We will never be able to deal with Microsoft until we are her master. Legislators everywhere need to realize that Murrow was right. We are not descended from fearful men. You represent the public. It is your duty to stand up to the minions of Microsoft if their products don't serve the public interest. Office Open XML surely doesn't.

Michael J. Jordan is Managing Editor of Linux Online. He can be reached at Michael.Jordan**AT**linux.org