Massachusetts maintains commitment to Open Document Format

Stuart Corner
Sunday, 27 August 2006 14:32

IT Industry - Strategy

Trimaco continued: "The accessibility of these applications, and their ability to work with assistive technology, has improved steadily. Over time these suites will improve the options available to people with disabilities. However, it is our judgment that they are unlikely to be fully supported by assistive technology vendors, or alternatively to include fully functional adaptations in the packaged product, by January 1, 2007, the original target date for ODF implementation... [Therefore] we plan to implement ODF, using translator technology plugged in to Microsoft Office, in a group of early adopter agencies, including the Massachusetts Office on Disability, by January 1, 2007. Thereafter, we plan to migrate all Executive Department agencies to compliance with the standard, in phases, by June of 2007."

He added: "These target dates are not set in stone; they are dependent on a number of factors, including the adoption by the OASIS standard setting organisation  [Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards] of ODF Version 1.1 (which will address minor accessibility issues related to the format itself), the timely delivery of completed translators by one or more of the multiple vendors that are currently developing this technology, and the validated accessibility of the translators themselves."

The announcement was welcomed by the Open Document Alliance, which noted that "An OASIS subcommittee has identified, and is addressing, several aspects of the specification that will make it possible to preserve accessibility information in the document format itself. As more mainstream applications become accessible, a broader range of applications will be available to people with disabilities."

According to ODF, "The format conversion approach will allow documents to be created, exchanged, and stored in ODF across multiple platforms by multiple applications - including office suites that have been slow to respond to the growing demand for ODF."

Google, whose online word processor, Writely, will support the Open Document Format (ODF) recently joined the Open Document Alliance.  Microsoft in  July announced support for ODF  with the release of a range of plug-in translators for use with Office applications.