First kiss as Microsoft woos Massachusetts

Microsoft has pushed on a closed door and found it open in its charm offensive to win back Massachusetts. Only a few weeks ago the state firmly rejected the software giant’s Office productivity suite in favor of ODF, the OpenDocument Format espoused by IBM, Sun, Google and others.

Last week Microsoft unveiled plans to submit its Office Open XML file format to the ECMA standards body.

VNUNet reports that “Sun Microsystems, in response to Microsoft’s promise to open its format, sent an open letter to Massachusetts secretary of state Thomas Trimarco that points out that, so far, Microsoft hasn’t actually opened the format. ‘It [would] be a mistake to rely on a single vendor’s promise to submit a new product to a standards body at some point in the future,’ wrote Carl Cargill, Sun’s director for corporate standards. ‘The Commonwealth [of Massachusetts] owes no less to its taxpaying citizens.’ ”

But the state’s Governor has said that Microsoft is once again in the race to supply government agencies in the state of Massachusetts with its Office productivity suite.

First kiss to Microsoft.