On Wednesday I moderated a panel at the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco. Gavin Clark at The Register.com titled his story about the session "Microsoft ignites idea of independent versions of Office" and subtitled it "Rivals Flame Redmond." That's a bit overwrought, but it was an interesting session none the less.

Yesterday I reported on the December 12 promise by the Boston Globe's ombudsman to look into how the story that contributed to the resignation of Massachusetts CIO Peter Quinn, and the fact that nothing had been heard since. Last night I got a response.

It was on December 12, 2005 that Boston Globe ombudsman Richard Chacon promised to investigate how the article by Steve Kurkjian that helped to drive Peter Quinn from office came to be written. What's happened since then? As the reporters say, "Repeated requests for comment have remained unanswered"

Peter Quinn is out on the hustings telling his story, and for the first time has posted his slide show for public view. Here's what he has to say.

C++/CLI, like the XML Reference Schema, was submitted by Microsoft to Ecma for adoption as a standard and fast-tracking through ISO for global adoption. Last week, it hit a bump in the road.

An article in Vnunet.com seems to say that there's a rift between Sun and IBM at OpenOffice.org, and that Sun is fighting to hang on to the OpenOffice.org code. I asked Bob Sutor and Simon Phipps, and they both say, "no way."

Louis Gutierrez took over Peter Quinn's old job as Massachusetts State CIO yesterday. He also got a major vote of confidence from Computerworld Editor-in-Chief Don Tennant.

One of the most vocal opponents of the Massachusetts ODF policy has been Supervisor of Records Alan N. Cote. Last week, Alan suggested that we have a chat, and here's what he had to say.

Mitt Romney is betting that supporting ODF will prove to be a smart political move, as he grooms himself for a run for the presidency. It looks like that bet is paying off.