From the “Don’t Let the Door Hit You” Department…

So, how many file formats have cost you your job? According to Digg (and yes, I’ve double-dipped Digg, referencing them twice in one night), “Peter Quinn, the man responsible for bringing Open Document to the state of Massachusetts as CIO will resign on January 9, citing the controversy around the decision as well as personal attacks aimed at him as reasons for his departue.” I’m not knocking Microsoft specifically in this, because they’re tring to make sure that their products enter into the consideration set for any purchase. That is their responsibility to their shareholders and employees; however, why should a CIO (even for a government entity) not be able to decide which file formats his organization should support?

Let’s take this discussion out of the IT arena and look at the overall organization, instead. Can a CEO institute a policy that they will only contract with public companies or ones that permit certain levels of due diligence? Sure. So, how’s this different?

read more | digg story