MASSACHUSETTS AND OPENDOCUMENT: THE COMMONWEALTH LEADS THE WAY

In this issue, we continue our examination of the interplay between public and private sectors, both as standards developers, as standards adopters, and as drivers of innovation and progress.

At key points in history, governments have provided a vital role in accelerating adoption of crucial standards by the private sector. One such instance was the standardization of railway gauges in the 19th century. Today is another, as governments around the world advance the cause of open standards and open source software.

On September 21, 2005 Massachusetts became the first government in the world to adopt strict rules intended to break its dependency on software applications that create documents that they fear may become inaccessible over time. We interview all of the major players to present the details on how this radical new policy came about and what it does (and does not) mean.

In 1630, John Winthrop challenged Puritan colonists in Boston to live "as a city on a hill," accountable to the world as exemplars of virtue. Now it's the turn of Massachusetts CIO Peter Quinn and his Information Technology Division to fulfill that role.

Your daughter's new iPod Nano is insanely cool. It will also be useless sooner than she thinks, when the technology becomes obsolete -- unlike that 4,000 year old cuneiform tablet in the museum, or the books in the library. How about your data files?

The speaker roster is now complete for this free, interactive event to be held in Washington, D.C. on October 5, co-sponsored by ConsortiumInfo.org/Gesmer Updegrove LLP and held in conjunction with the ANSI Annual Conference.