They come in at the beginning of the week, we evaluate them, we put them in a band, we work with them one on one, we get them on and off the stage and teach them how to work together as a band,

the Office 12 formats pay special attention to compatibility with older document versions, [and] other formats do not concern themselves with this important issue.

We were surprised by the narrowing of the approach to openness, ... There are many other different options that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has here that many other countries and states are doing.

As we look to the future, and all of these data types become increasingly intertwined, locked-in formats like OpenDocument are not well suited to address these varying data types - as the proposed policy itself acknowledges. It's this need for choice and flexibility that led Microsoft to design Office in a way that supports any XML schemas that a customer chooses, a capability lacking in less functional formats.

public records management is to force a single, less functional document format on all state agencies.

As we look to the future, and all of these data types become increasingly intertwined, locked-in formats like OpenDocument are not well suited to address these varying data types -- as the proposed policy itself acknowledges. ... We would advise the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to do a thorough evaluation of the costs and benefits before making such a major shift.