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Massachusetts CIO Resigns Over Open-Source ODF Controversy

Peter Quinn, "Not Accustomed To Rough-And-Tumble World Of Politics", Resigns, Effective Jan 9

"Even the smallest initiatives are being mitigated or stopped by some of the most unlikely and often uninformed parties...I view these circumstances as quite troubling because the good work laid out by the IT Commission is slowly being strangled and brought to a halt. And the last thing I can let happen is my presence be the major contributing factor marginalizing the good work of ITD and the entire IT community." wrote Peter Quinn (pictured) in an e-mail to his staff explaining why he has resigned from his post as CIO of the State of Massachusetts, effective January 9, 2006.

No announcement has been made as to a replacement. However, Quinn did stress to employees of the state's Information Technology Division (ITD) that his leaving did not mean that Massachusetts' progress towards ODF was ending.

The move to standardize on the OpenDocument format for all electronic documents in Massachusetts began on Sept. 1, when the proposal was first approved. The plan was quickly attacked by Microsoft, which called it "inconsistent and discriminatory." Microsoft has since submitted its new Office Open XML formats to Ecma International for standardization.

Quinn stressed that his resignation was not forced. In an interview, Quinn's prior boss Eric Kriss said that Quinn was ill prepared for the game of political football that the ODF controversy had created. "Peter is an IT professional who is not accustomed to the rough-and-tumble world of politics," Kriss said. "He found the last few months to be very distasteful, especially the Boston Globe article that seemed to imply some sort of improper influence related to his conference travel."

Quinn was cleared of any wrongdoing, as implied by the Boston Globe article, by an internal review.

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Most Recent Comments
Serguei Bakhteiarov 01/20/06 11:20:06 AM EST

I think folks @ Boston Globe must publish something about it. Publically apologize or support former allegations. I had been much higher opinion about this paper so far.

I am afraid the Open Document initiative is "gone with the wind" now... Nobody at the public services will attempt to repeat this experience again any time soon....

EOS News Desk 12/29/05 10:52:19 PM EST

Peter Quinn, Massachusetts CIO has resigned, effective January 9, 2006, over the Open Document controversy and the personal attacks aimed at him. Quinn stressed that his leaving did not mean that Massachusetts' progress towards ODF was ending.

EOS News Desk 12/29/05 08:30:36 PM EST

Peter Quinn, Massachusetts CIO has resigned, effective January 9, 2006, over the Open Document controversy and the personal attacks aimed at him. Quinn stressed that his leaving did not mean that Massachusetts' progress towards ODF was ending.

Enterprise Open Source Magazine News Desk 12/29/05 02:15:56 PM EST

Peter Quinn, Massachusetts CIO has resigned, effective January 9, 2006, over the Open Document controversy and the personal attacks aimed at him. Quinn stressed that his leaving did not mean that Massachusetts' progress towards ODF was ending.

EOS News Desk 12/29/05 01:40:34 PM EST

Peter Quinn, Massachusetts CIO has resigned, effective January 9, 2006, over the Open Document controversy and the personal attacks aimed at him. Quinn stressed that his leaving did not mean that Massachusetts' progress towards ODF was ending.

EOS News Desk 12/29/05 01:09:48 PM EST

Peter Quinn, Massachusetts CIO has resigned, effective January 9, 2006, over the Open Document controversy and the personal attacks aimed at him. Quinn stressed that his leaving did not mean that Massachusetts' progress towards ODF was ending.