Massachusetts has finally released the final version of its policy on data interoperability, and the requirement that all future software purchases conform to OpenDocument is still there, despite the strenuous objections of Microsoft (rebutted several places already, the most amusing of which may be the extended rebuttals in the comments of a Microsoft blog entry complaining about the decision).
This is immensely important, especially if it can be made to catch on. Since Microsoft has been refusing to implement OpenDocument in Microsoft Office, they are now completely shut out of software purchases in Massachusetts — and if they do properly implement OpenDocument, there will finally be competition in the office suite market again.
David Wheeler wrote an excellent analysis of how this happened, and how it is likely to progress.
