[nylug-talk] Friday 28 December 2007 Deadline for Comments to NewYork CIO about open standards for state documents

Fri Dec 28 15:42:43 EST 2007

Looks like we got a key victory here.  At the link for the call for
comments:

> http://www.oft.state.ny.us/oftnews/erecords-study.htm

. . . we see:

RESPONSE DUE DATE EXTENDED TO JANUARY 18, 2008

As a result of the tremendous interest in this issue, the due date for
survey responses is being extended.

Responses are now due by: January 18, 2008: 5:00 PM EST.

Victory!  Please ratchet back on the anxiety a tiny tad and work on
enhancing whatever quick drafts you were throwing together instead. 
:-)

Seth

Seth Johnson wrote:
> 
> Folks might want to send them the following link, just one newest
> analysis just come across my transom, but it might be useful for
> raising questions of whether OOXML is a legitimate standard to even
> consider yet, and more importantly: whether they ought to extend the
> public comments period.
> 
> The Deprecated “Smoke Screen” of MS Office Open XML (OOXML)
> > http://fanaticattack.com/2007/the-deprecated-smoke-screen-of-ms-office-open-xml-ooxml.html
> 
> It's a tiny bit "crank"-y but not too-so, I think.  :-)
> 
> Seth
> 
> jays at panix.com wrote:
> >
> > Please forgive tardiness of this notice.  New York State will
> > likely decide on a Statewide Official Standard Jumbo Office Suite
> > Format next year.  Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, Chief
> > Information Officer for the State of New York, and Head of Task
> > for this decision, has called for advice from New York State
> > residents.  The deadline for getting comments in is
> >
> > 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time
> > Friday 28 December 2007
> >
> > The main issue here is that Microsoft is attempting to have their
> > fraud "OOXML" declared an Official New York State Standard for
> > all state government documents stored on computers.  OOXML is not
> > a standard format.  Indeed today, no software writes OOXML, and
> > no software reads OOXML.  OOXML has no published documentation,
> > despite Microsoft's claims.  But even if, one day, some Microsoft
> > software writes and reads files claimed to be in OOXML format,
> > New York State should not accept any format controlled by a
> > private interest.  New York State should not force any format
> > which, in practice, can only be manipulated by source secret
> > software, on any resident.
> >
> > The call for comments, which is a long two part document, gives
> > evidence that Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart will take seriously
> > careful clear comments.  I ask defeatists on our side to consider
> > that Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart refers to Groklaw in the Call
> > for Comments.
> >
> > Personal note: In my comment, I will suggest extending the
> > deadline, and I will suggest including in the formal evidentiary
> > material all public court records of Microsoft's decades long
> > standards and license swindles.
> >
> > Below find quotes from, and pointers to, a Slashdot discussion,
> > and the Official Call for Comments.
> >
> > >From http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/18/2245237
> >
> > <blockquote>
> >
> >  New York Decision On ODF Vs. OOXML Approaching
> >
> >  Posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 18, @08:08PM
> >  from the choose-wisely-young-jedi dept.
> >
> >  Software Government IT christian.einfeldt writes "In August of
> >  2007, the State of New York passed legislation requiring its CIO,
> >  Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, to gather information on the advantages
> >  and disadvantages of adopting either ODF or OOXML as a document
> >  standard, and to report her findings by 15 January 2008. As part
> >  of her duties under that legislation, the CIO issued a Request
> >  For Public Comment to get feedback on the topic. The deadline for
> >  that public comment is 28 December 2007 so there is still time
> >  for the Slashdot crowd to be heard."
> >
> > </blockquote>
> >
> > Here is the prologue to the full call for comments, from
> > http://www.oft.state.ny.us/oftnews/erecords-study.htm :
> >
> > <blockquote>
> >
> >  CIO/OFT Request for Public Comment (RFPC)
> >  Description
> >
> >  Request for Public Comment - A study concerning electronic record policy for New York State.
> >
> >  RFPC # 122807
> >
> >  In its 2007 session, the New York State Legislature directed NYS
> >  Chief Information Officer/Director of the Office For Technology,
> >  Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, to gather stakeholder input regarding
> >  the mechanisms and processes for obtaining access to and reading
> >  electronic data so that such data can be created, maintained,
> >  exchanged, and preserved by the state in a manner that encourages
> >  appropriate government control, access, choice, interoperability,
> >  and vendor neutrality.
> >
> >  Specifically, the law requires:
> >
> >  "The director shall study how electronic documents and the
> >  mechanisms and processes for obtaining access to and reading
> >  electronic data can be created, maintained, exchanged, and
> >  preserved by the state in a manner that encourages appropriate
> >  government control, access, choice, interoperability, and vendor
> >  neutrality. The study shall consider, but not be limited to, the
> >  policies of other states and nations, management guidelines for
> >  state archives as they pertain to electronic documents, public
> >  access, expected storage life of electronic documents, costs of
> >  implementation, and savings. The director shall solicit comments
> >  regarding the creation, maintenance, exchange, and preservation
> >  of electronic documents by the state from stakeholders, including
> >  but not limited to, the office of the state comptroller, the
> >  office of the attorney general, the state archives, and the state
> >  historian. The director shall also solicit comments from members
> >  of the public. The director shall report findings and
> >  recommendations to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, and
> >  the temporary president of the senate on or before January
> >  fifteenth, two thousand eight."
> >
> >  Laws of 2007, Chapter 477 (codified at New York State Technology Law - 305(4))
> >
> >  CIO/OFT is issuing this RFPC to help direct the findings and
> >  recommendations of the required study.
> >
> >  The RFPC is in two parts, an initial list of general questions,
> >  and a second portion with very detailed questions. CIO/OFT
> >  designed it this way with the hope that including general
> >  questions might elicit greater input from members of the public
> >  interested in the broader issues but not necessarily concerned
> >  with the more granular aspects of electronic records creation and
> >  preservation.
> >
> >  All stakeholders are encouraged to submit responses to all or
> >  parts of the RFPC, irrespective of whether they currently do
> >  business with or intend to participate in future procurements by
> >  CIO/OFT and/or the State of New York. No contract will be awarded
> >  based on responses to this RFPC.  Response Instructions
> >
> >  Responses are due by: December 28, 2007, 5:00 PM EST
> >
> >  Responses should be in writing, preferably sent by electronic mail to:
> >
> >  Darlene Van Sickle, Principal Attorney
> >  New York State Office for Technology
> >  State Capitol, ESP - PO Box 2062
> >  Albany, NY 12220-0062
> >  FAX: (518) 486-7923
> >
> >  E-mail: erecords-study at oft.state.ny.us
> >
> > </blockquote>
> >
> > Part II of the questions is at
> >
> > http://www.oft.state.ny.us/oftnews/FINAL_e-record_study_RFPC.Part%20II.pdf
> >
> > For more information about the Open Document Format see
> >
> > http://www.odfalliance.org
> >
> > Jay Sulzberger <secretary at lxny.org>
> > Corresponding Secretary LXNY
> > LXNY is New York's Free Computing Organization.
> > http://www.lxny.org
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > This is the Pho mailing list, hosted by griffinatonehousedotcom and johnparresatgmaildotcom.
> 
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-- 

RIAA is the RISK!  Our NET is P2P!
http://www.nyfairuse.org/action/ftc

DRM is Theft!  We are the Stakeholders!

New Yorkers for Fair Use
http://www.nyfairuse.org

[CC] Counter-copyright: http://realmeasures.dyndns.org/cc

I reserve no rights restricting copying, modification or distribution
of this incidentally recorded communication.  Original authorship
should be attributed reasonably, but only so far as such an
expectation might hold for usual practice in ordinary social discourse
to which one holds no claim of exclusive rights.