The state government official who had been moving Massachusetts away from Microsoft Corp.’s digital document formats has resigned. Peter Quinn, Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, will quit his position, effective Jan. 9, according to an internal memo obtained by the IDG News Service.
Quinn had been behind a drive to change state computers so that they would no longer store documents in proprietary formats such as those used by Microsoft Office and Lotus Notes. Under a proposal drafted by Quinn’s Information Technology Division (ITD), in 2007, the state would begin a move to the OpenDocument file format, an open, XML-based format used by a variety of products including IBM Workplace and StarOffice.
By championing the move away from Microsoft, Quinn became a hero to the open-source community, but he also attracted a level of public scrutiny that disrupted his private and professional life. That attention played a role in his resignation, according to the memo.
Not the 1st time an IT manager gets walloped for suggesting change.
Sent this to Romney but of course, I don’t expect any response:
Dear Governor Romney,
I urge your office to look into the matter regarding Mr. Peter Quinn and his resignation as the Mass. CIO resulting from political pressure fueled by Microsoft Corporation.
This story is very alarming to me, a computer expert living in Maryland and a middle aged staunch republican. I suggest that the Massachusetts political machine consider the fallout in the blogosphere and technical world as Mr. Quinn becomes the poster child for the adoption of open standards in government and the benefits we all would reap as tax payers.
No surprise. M$ has been bullying the industry for years to get what they want, what chance did Mass. have.
You should always remember that no good deed go unpunished.
The punishment for success always exceeds the rewards for conformity
One of the hats I wear (small company) is that of IT director. The good thing about it, and probably the reason I’m the IT guy, is that I’m the only one who can do more than just turn the damned things on. When I say we use Firefox, all I get out of it is yeah man, whatever you say. As long as the boss can browse Ebay for old muscle cars my job is secure. He’ll never read this (I hope).
I LOVE the PDF format. But I have a question… is it proprietary?
I always assumed it was… but Open Office happily saves to PDF format. So what’s the deal?
If I was a government offcial, I’d would never approve any format owned by a private company. (But, I’d be tempted by PDF!)
PDF is my currant choise but I am pretty sure it is proprietary. ADOBE acrobat.
Ed, correction. It is not the first time that someone suggesting a change got walloped. It doesn’t matter if he was an IT guy or just some mid-level manager. Change is seldom welcomed by senior management. Examples, how many alternative fuel vehicles are GM and Ford selling right now?
I wish Quinn the best in his new job.