MA Secretary Trimarco Confirms Administration Support for ODF
I'm happy to exclusively report that the senior administration official in charge of the Information Technology Division has confirmed that the deployment of OpenDocument will go forward.
Objectivity and my Secret Life as Simon Hoggart
On this New Years Day weekend, an alert reader and blogger in his own right forces me to reflect on the timeless question posed in 1969 by the Firesign Theatre, "How can you be two places at once, when you're really no where at all?"
Thanks, Peter; Hail and Farewell
As Peter Quinn steps out of the spotlight, we owe him our thanks. And we should have respect for his privacy.
Lest Things Fall Apart
Out of a hundred "me too" articles is one that has something new and important to say
From Blogs to the Media: News of Quinn’s Resignation Spreads (Slowly)
It's been 24 hours since I first reported that Peter Quinn had resigned as the CIO of Massachusetts. In this entry, I pull together all of the additional information of note that has appeared on line thus far, including further details regarding why Quinn resigned, an official statement regarding what Massachusetts will do next regarding ODF, and the first report from the Boston Globe. I also follow the bread crumbs that show how news travels from the Blogosphere to the traditional media when a story breaks - in a word, it travels "slowly".
Peter Quinn Resigns
I'm very sorry to report that Peter Quinn, the CIO of Massachusetts who has been at the center of a controversy relating to his efforts at the Information Technology Division (ITD) to adopt the OpenDocument format for the use of the Commonwealth's Executive Agencies, has resigned [Updated 12.28.05]
Mr. Natural Says…
Fans of R. Crumb will remember Mr. Natural and his words to live by: Always use the right tool for the job. It's a good thing to keep in mind when you compare ODF and XMLRS
Einstein, Engineers, Physicists and Standards
It's only appropriate that on the hundredth anniversary of Einstein's Miracle Year that NIST and MIT researchers have refined the proof of the great physicist's most famous theorum more precisely than ever before
Patent Pools, No Action Letters and Open Source: Keeping Good Deeds Unpunished
Back on August 9, I wrote about the fact that a patent pool had been formed by some of the patent owners that believe that their intellectual property rights (IPR) would be infringed by the implementation of RFID technology. I was reminded of this entry when a reporter who was writing about the current status of that initiative called me up to explain how patent pools work. He's written what I think is a very clear update on this situation, called "The RFID Patent Pool: Playing Poker," which you can find here.
The blog entry in question was one of those that I write from time to time that seek to dig below the surface of what is generally perceived to be bad news in order to determine just how bad that news really is. In this particular case, I was pointing out that if the laudable efforts of those that had been working hard to create a royalty-free environment for RFID technology were going to fail, then the next best outcome could well be a patent pool.
Is One Standard Always Better than Two?
In an ideal world, the answer would be "yes." Around these parts, though, the answer depends on the type of standard, time and circumstances, and your views on economic theory.