Open XML links for 04-19-2007

A few interesting links I've come across recently ...

Wouter Van Vugt: Office Open XML Workshop in Sweden
Wouter's latest workshop was a hit, and he has graciously posted some great sample documents for developers who want to learn the basics of Open XML document generation. Wouter's next workshop will be in the UK -- see his blog for more info.

James Governor: OpenXML vs ODF: does the archiving argument stack up?
"The industry needs to move beyond good vs evil, manichaen black vs white, beyond the single answer to a problem. Our monoetheism does us no favours ... One true format? What do we need that for and what god are we worshipping? What are the problems we’re trying to solve?"

State of Texas: Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
The state of Texas estimated that it would cost $55 million the first two years, and $10 million every year thereafter, to mandate open document formats as recommended by IBM. The costs would include the addition of 163 permanent full-time employees to the state payroll.

Dennis Hamilton: Open-Standards Implementation, I: Celebrating Massachusetts
"The poster child for adoption of open-document formats in the United States is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Information Technology Division (ITD), part of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance in the Commonwealth. I think it is time to pay homage to the efforts that were undertaken by ITD and the Commonwealth CIO in establishing its Open Initiatives. My goal is to recognize the practical, deliberate efforts in the ITD and the pragmatic realism that is displayed in the public documents on the ITD web site. This is in marked contrast to the way these efforts are often portrayed."